Eglu Cube Coop For Sale

[Fleurchicken]

Hi,

 

I would be very grateful for some clarification about how to tell what mites/lice etc ones chicken has and how to differentiate between them all? It started with one of my girls having a bad leg, so treated that with wd40 and vaseline - and then they seemed under the weather some weeks later. One is broody so had taken feathers from her front and spending all day in the nest. Then they all went off the lay, so realised something was up. If you check them and treat them during the day - we have used organic de-louse and the ground planxton stuff powder - nothing is visible, but when we check them at night they have very small, circular white/grey fast moving things one the surface of their feathers. When I scrubbed the house with disinfectant I also found what I took to be evidence of red mite - red grainy things gathered in nooks and crannies very like the photo on the red mite thread.

Could someone please tell me this: Does the Northern Fowl Mite also turn red when it has sucked blood or does it do something else to the chooks? Does the fast moving critters at night sound like red mite or NFMites? Could it be the girls have both? Or are the fast moving critters something else? What is the major difference between red mites and NFM?

The chooks are improved - the two that aren't broody are laying every other day or so rather than not at all - but the critters although diminished can still be there at night. There is no further evidence of the red ones in crannies. I am obviously worried about the broody girl as she is in the nest all the time unless we force her our for food and therefore exposing herself more.

All three chooks have now got some bald patches on their underneaths - the broody one's collar is getting scrawy.

 

I am going to buy an eglu and get rid of the wooden house - but is there anything else apart from continual dousing with powder etc that I should be doing and what's teh difference between treating for red mites and NFMS?

 

Please any advice, help and clarification would be very gratefully received.

[Egluntyne]

Some info **here**.

 

From the Frequently Asked Questions section, which is a mine of useful information for new members.

[The Dogmother]

Red mites live predominantly on the housing, coming out at night to feed off the birds, it's unusual to find any on the bird, but not impossible.

 

Northern Fowl Mites (NFM) are little grey dots, which don't change colour when they feed, they live on the bird and are roughly ha;f the size of the red mites. They scurry around at the base of the feathers and their eggs (which look like fag ash) will clog up the feathers around the vent.

 

Lice are wee brown creatures much like human head lice, they also live on the hens.

 

More information here

[Fleurchicken]

Thanks - yes I had already read through all the info on the site re: red mites etc - I'm still not clear, do you think tiny grey dots scurrying around on the top of their feathers at night are red mites or NFM? That's what I;m really trying to establish and despite all my reading I am still not clear whether treatment for one is the same as treatment for the other therefore it really doesn't matter how I treat - or whether there are key differences and therefore I do need to treat differently. I am not dim, I did read the stuff, I'm just not clear. Can any one clarify this for me please please please???

[The Dogmother]

Hard to tell without seeing them, but I'd always treat the house and bird anyway.

 

Take your coop apart and see if you can spot any red mites.