4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[jefferp]

Hi,

 

We have had our Cube and 3 chooks for nearly 3 weeks now, being complete beginners with chickens. When the man from Omlet assembled the cube he said that the chickens had been fighting. One of the Pepperpots had some feather loss around her tail.

Immediately we had 2 eggs a day, which then went down to 1 about 10 days ago.

I kept a close eye on the Pepperpot that appeared to have been pecked, but the other 2 did not seem to be bothering her any more than each other. Two days ago I was able to get a really good look at her and I think she has lost lots more feathers, when she is moving around you can clearly see perhaps 5 or 6 cm of skin and it looks spotted.

 

So I suspect that I have been delivered a chicken with a mite. I have been cleaning the cube weekly with Poultry Shield and yesterday I got as much Diatom onto the chooks as I could. Put Diatom also into cube and in nesting box.

 

I'm going to phone Omlet tomorrow as I am a bit miffed to have been sold a chicken with a mite problem, more so that the chap who installed the cube told me he had professionally managed flocks of 500+, so I can't believe he would not have recognised the problem in Pepperpot (and my naivety).

 

But most importantly, is there more I can do ? Obtain products containing permethrin ?

How long will Diatom take to kill off mites and she recovers to start laying again ?

 

This forum is more useful and informative than any of the numerous books I read before buying chickens. Thank you in advance for any experience shared.

 

Many thanks,

Paul

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Welcome to the forum, Paul . Sorry to hear about your hen. Do you think you could post a photo of her - it might be easier to identify if it is mites or the other hens feather pulling. What sort of mite do you suspect? I didn't think red mites caused feather loss (but I've no experience so am not sure!) but I know someone had depluming mites which did just that. It's fairly easily treated, I think.

[Falkor]

Sorry to hear that you are having problems so early on.

 

Are they all pepperpots? I would think if they are they all would of come from the same shed so would poss all have mites/lice.

 

As ANH says I believe it is deplumping mite that cause feather loss. If you have a look in Poultry Heath FAQs there are a couple of threads with some great pictures to help you identify any creepy crawlies.

 

The drop in egg production could be due to their journey, settling in and maybe change in diet? They are adjusting to their new life with you.

 

I had a feather pecker when I got my CLB and buff Orp. The Orp completly stripped the CLB of her tail feathers and most of her knickers! BUT....i never saw it happen She was doing it just before they were let out of the Eglu so behind closed doors. I quickly resolved the problem by squirting the CLB with Anti-peck spay and had a bumper bit on hand for the Orp if need be.

 

I put is down to the Orp never having seen a CLB before as although they came from the same breeder they were housed seperatley. So if you is the only maybe she is being picked on for being the odd one out?