thelurch Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 (edited) I posted sometime ago HEREabout my 4 black Rhodes and the fact they were all starting to bokk very loudly at 5.30am which was getting quite stressful! I was dreading the mornings getting lighter as they get up earlier, and would make the noise even earlier but strangely they stopped the early bokking and the earliest bokk would be at 9.00am, at which time I would be happy to leave them to it. Well this week has seen the sudden return of early bokks, today was 4.15am! Needless to say I shot out of bed and ran up the garden to give them a good squirt with the water sprayer! This noise was far worse than any loud barking alsation! Anyway, today we had planned to treat the possible infestation of depluming mite which I think all 4 have, this is after them having a mini moult in January which had seen feathers start to grow back but then disappear again, especially between kegs and on chest , also the skin was very red with some quite red sore bits. We had put it down to pecking but never saw any going on, then I googles the symptoms and up popped depluming mite. So based on some advice that this mite is very difficult to get rid of as it burrows under the skin, we found that some people had had success with giving the birds a bath in a solution of johnsons anti flea shampoo with it's active ingredient pyrethrum. So they all got a dunking today and we will see, maybe repeat it next week. Then earlier this afternoon, I noticed two hens yawning non stop, the first time I'd seen it, but I had read on here ages ago about the connection with tapeworm so tomorrow I start a weeks treatment of fluebenvet! Not after any advice but just thought I'd share the experience that keeping hens isn't just collecting eggs, and this info night help someone else. Edited June 28, 2011 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plum Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 The yawning could be gape worm and you give a double strength dose of Flubenvet. If you look down beak you are supposed to be able to glimpse them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thelurch Posted June 28, 2011 Author Share Posted June 28, 2011 That's the blooming autocorrect on iPhone! I had meant to put gapeworm not tapeworm ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Tea Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Hi I have found a thread on Poultry Chat where somebody seems to have successfully treated depluming mite with a combination of Ivomec Injectable from the vet and dog flea shampoo ........ http://www.poultrychat.com/forum/index.php?/topic/25-depluming-mite-decimating-my-flock/ ...... might be worth a try. As for them being noisy in the morning, is it possible to shut them in their coop overnight? Mine are noisy early if I forget to shut them in but so long as they are in their nice dark coop they tend to stay quiet until I let them out at about 7.30 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
