Smart Feeder - Light sensor values

[cluckingmad]

Well, after losing two girls suddenly last week (one elderly so not a red flag, one young so started to be concerned...) I gave my girls a check over. Everyone looked ok except Lulu the pekin who was looking very peeky...

 

Firstly, she let us pick her up without a race round the run which is not like her at all. No diarrhoea (sorry about the terrible spelling), beak clean and clear but breathing bit noisy. However, she had a fair few creepy crawleys on her and was rather muddly thanks to the rubbish 'summer' weather so we gave her a bath with small animal shampoo (contains permethrin derivative so good against biting nasties) and gave her some fuss and a blow dry (!). She seemed rather happier and snuggled down in a cat basket for the night with a bowl of tuna cat food and some water, however not well enough to rejoin the other girls.

 

Now then. To the point of the post! As we've identified one hen with mites we need to treat EVERYONE to stop the horrible things getting a foothold in the flock - in the past we used ivormec spot on however have just been told we can't get it without a prescription and our vet isn't happy prescribing it as it isn't licensed for poultry. Really don't want to bath 11 hens without good reason, mostly as it takes forever to get them dry again and some of them aren't very keen on it so not worth stressing them. Someone suggested Johnsons anti-mite spray but not sure how I'd successfully treat 11 hens given that it looks like red mite to me, so need to get onto the skin to treat them..?

 

Suggestions please! x

[Olly]

Sorry, I don't know which product is best - but if it's red mite, you need to treat the housing rather than the hens as that is where it lives. If there's something actually ON the hens, then it probably isn't red mite. Take a look here for more advice.

[cluckingmad]

Cheers, having had a good, long read I have a bad feeling that we have a Northern Fowl Mite problem. *@#*&%. And other unladylike language.

 

So, looks like the instinct to bath her in anti-mite shampoo was the right one to make. She's looking much brighter this evening and is eating ok but drinking lots. She also has the tell-tale dirt around her vent and the skin is slightly encrusted there too, but nowhere else. Looks like a day of scrubbing the coop, liberal application of Smite and treating all the hens with mite powder in order tomorrow.

 

My poor little Lulu Shes a fairly old pekin by all accounts, we rehomed her from a lady who was stopping breeding pekins a few months back... we paid less for Lulu than the other three pekins because, in the words of the lady who sold them, "she rather elderly and threadbare". Bless her little heart, she had a horrible louse infestation so as soon as we got her home and settled she had a day of beauty therapy including a warm bath to loosen the muck clumping her leg feathers, a talon trim, and had the worst affected feathers gently snipped away (they were heavily caked with louse eggs and she was obviously uncomfortable). She just sat there gently cooing as we did it, once she was all done she went back out with the other hens and has been one of the nicest, happiest little hens we've ever had. There is absolutely no way I am losing her to mites now, if I have to sit up all night to make sure she's ok I'll do it gladly!!

 

Did I mention I'm totally soppy over my girls?! Let the battle against mites BEGIN!

[Tweety]

Good luck with her - I find it rather alarming that a breeder would let one of her hens get into such an awful condition - Lulu is very lucky that she found you!

[cluckingmad]

Thanks Tweety She was just a hobby breeder but its still shocking, I'm mortified if any one of our girls gets as much as a single beastie on them!! Have spent an interesting day bathing the other girls and giving them all a blowdry afterwards... our bathroom looks like a warzone... still have 3 girls to bathe tomorrow. Noone else had any creepies on them but knowing the little blighters are nigh on invisible in the early stages we don't want to take any chances so they all got bathed!