Eglu Go With 2m Run For Sale

[groovydad]

Hi,

updated...

To cut a long story short...I have found lice and upturned scales on 2 of 7 chickens. I have treated ALL the chickens with Ivermectin and as of this morning they seem much better, live lice have dissapeared, only a few eggs left on Penny (washed off) and red mites seem to have dissapeared. So all is looking good with the chickens.

 

As for the red mite. I'm sure I saw a small amount on one hen but I was either wrong or i'd just caught it in time as I've scrubbed out the coop and perches today and didn't find any. The amount on the chicken was also minimal and seems to have practically gone.

 

The problem is the bedding.

 

Typically all this has happened while I've been really busy in work and my wife is ill so she hasn't been able to get out and properly clean either. Cleaned and scrubbed out the nesting box and roost and done daily poo picks, the problem is the deep litter.

 

They have an enclosed run 10ft x 8ft (two greenhouses joined together with the sides removed and meshed) which is deep littered (approx 6-7 bales of easybed) and an outside run of similar proportions which is a mixture of woodchip and easibed.

 

I'm wondering if I really need to remove the whole lot of deep litter in the covered run or if I could get away with Staloson F on the whole lot with a heavy dusting of DE etc instead? Presumably lice/mite's could be in their poo so it's in the litter, woodchip and anywhere they've been in the garden? In this case they could be picking it up again and again. It would be prohibitively expensive to be changing up to ten bales of easibed/woodchip every couple of weeks, especially in the warm summer when the likelihood of this re-occuring is increased? Usually I change out every 6-8 weeks, last changed out 3 weeks ago.

Plus we seem to have a lot of flies and midges in all our gardens this spring. All of this suggests to me that I really should be changing it all constantly but which also makes me weep at the cost. What do the rest of you do? Would mere daily poo picking/Stalosan do it? Could I get way with clearing the bedding and leaving the concrete floor of the run bare or thinly covered?

 

Advice please.

Edited April 22, 2011 by Guest

[Redwing]

If the chickens made leg mites or lice then they will live on the bird only so dont worry about the bedding though I'd give teh coop a big clean out as a matter of course

 

Red mite is a bigger problem but from your description it doesnt sound like thats what they had

 

You really have two options with the run, have a thin covering and replace it often or a thicker one and maintain it - my run is woodchip and I chuck a couple of buckets of Aubiose in every now and again to soak up any damp and soggy poo, I rake over the surface when I remember - the woodchip has been down two years now and doesnt smell or look mucky (there is a roof on the run and its very sheltered though which makes a huge difference)

 

I put a red top fly trap in the garden last year which worked well

 

If you use a thin covering of bedding its much easier to rake this out on a regular basis and many people take this option

 

Some people have reported sucess with keeping flies away buy using dusters sprayed with a watered down mix of citronella and lavender oil hung in the run and also fly papers (out of reach of the chooks)

[groovydad]

Hi Redwing,

 

I'm basically doing as you are doing with your run with the woodchip and aubiouse or easibed (although I think i'll be using more woodchip to less easibed from now on). So far i've not needed to change it out that often( couple of months) and I've never had a problem over the past 9 months...i'm just a little worried now that I've discovered lice.

 

My worry is that the coop is in the covered run and they can get out of their roost when it gets light. During that time they'll be running around, pooping and rubbing off the lice eggs etc into the ground which will just be waiting to reattach themselves when one of the hens walks past/scratches or sits down?

 

 

So with the chickens sorted it's more of a case of keeping up with the runs. I've shovelled out today, cleaned everything with poultry shield, put some new easi-bed back in and put half of the old clean looking deep bed back in in, all damped down and covered with Stalosan-F/DE. I think I'll see how that goes with repeated treatments on the chickens and bedding. I don't really want to go with a thin covering as there are often a couple of days a week when they are confined to the indoor run and they need something to scratch (which is why I have a large run and deep litter).

 

Thanks for the advfce.

 

Adam