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orchardchick48

New chicken, tail down blinking

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Hi I'm new to the forum and chicken keeping. just got two Black tailed rangers, lovely glossy feathers bright eyes all vital signs look good, but one seems to have it's tail down a lot and is less inquisitive than the other who has a perky tail and demenor. Could this be a sign something isn't right or is it just them settling in on first day?

 

thanks for any advice, nervous first timer. :-)

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Welcome to the forum!

 

It might just be that the quiet one with her tail down is submitting to the other in their pecking order. Make sure that you have a water and food station for both otherwise the dominant one may guard a single set and prevent the other from feeding.

She may also be nervous about the change in surroundings too.

 

Keep an eye on your quiet hen and if you are worried then see a vet - if you post your general location somone may be able to recommend a good chicken vet if you don't know one already.

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Welcome to the forum. It's hard to gauge with new hens - you will soon learn what's normal for them.

 

Generally if a hen looks 'busy' e.g. it is pecking the ground, scratching and so on, it's probably ok. A sick hen will look hunched, and stay very still. By the time they are doing this it's often too late as they hide symptoms of illness very successfully.

 

As they are so new, unless she looks noticeably different to her companion I would put it down to nerves. One hen will always be more dominant than the other and it could be she's just the bottom hen of the two. Is she eating and drinking? Is she sneezing, are her eyes runny or sore looking or anything like that? If not then I wouldn't worry too much - by tomorrow she'll probably be a bit more confident.

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I can't offer much in the way of advice as I'm new to this too. I really hope she's alright and just being quiet. I thought mine we're doing just grand having brought them home this morning but they've just had their first encounter of the feline kind and the cat is unfortunately fixated. I'm hoping the cat will loose interest quickly but I'm quite anxious about it.

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thanks for all the advice and suggestions.

 

I think you guys might be right that it is most likely nerves and pecking order as she is eating drinking scratching and no other signs of illness just a little less perky than the other and the tail down. Being caught in a big net and put in a box in the boot of a car for 20mins can't be the most soothing of experiences, then put in an unfamiliar run/coop albeit with worms administered through the bars by my daughter (they loved them BTW).

 

I think I am more nervous than they are, but loving seeing the little shiny brown critters in the garden, very excited!

 

Cosmo I'm sure the chickens will give your cat a run for it's money once they are settled and more confident, they will give it a good peck on the head and put it at the bottom of the pecking order. Our cat took one look at them and turned it's back in disgust realising he will now not be the "only child" pretty much the same reaction we got when my daughter was born ;-)

 

:-)

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Hi Orchardchick48 and welcome to chicken keeping. Agree with the others, some are more disturbed by being moved than others but it is very important you watch them carefully and check they are eating and drinking. Don't give them earth worms (or snails) as they contain parasitic worms. Perhaps you will be OK this once, but you will need to consider worming them in a few weeks anyway.

 

Chickens hate nets and it stays with them for life. Plenty of tlc required.

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Ok horror of horrors I opened the back of the brand new eglu this morning and it is absolutely riddled with red mites. They were everywhere and there was a pile of them red and writhing that looked like a blob of jam!!!!! I thought that the things didn't live on the chickens but came out at night to feed.

One of the chickens also did a black runny pooh.

 

Feeling a bit overwhelmed as a first timer. where to start. HELP! please. :-(

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Oh how aweful! I think this is quite unusual. Are you sure they are blood mite? If you wipe them off with kitchen paper, they should leave a blood smear.

 

You need to give the eglu a good wash and then treat it with something like a mite guard. They come in either powders or sprays that leave a whitish powder on the eglu parts. Don't forget the undersides of the trays and roosting bars. And in case of a Go I would also give a few squirts in the ventilation holes in the door and sides.

Chuck the chickens out for the day and give them a good spray of bird lice/mite spray. (Under the armpits and fluffy bottom.) You can also treat them with a spot on treatment, but those aren't licensed for poultry in the UK.

This might well be why your girl wasn't feeling well.

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Surprising how many red mite can live on a chicken and go completely unnoticed Orchardchick. This is a big problem we have. Clearly the red mite (assuming that's what they are and it sounds like it) have come in on the birds and multiplied rapidly in the heat. You will need to keep treating the coop and changing the bedding every few days for a couple of weeks. You can get a Barrier red mite powder to dissuade the red mite from living on the chickens.

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Definitely red mite I am squishing tons of them that are crawling all over the eglu and blood smears out so they have had a good feed :(

 

I have sprayed the inside of the coup with johnsons poultry spray an aerosol that I just happened to buy by chance on the way home from picking them up it is toxic and probably not the best thing to use, I just wanted to zap them the minute I saw them.

 

The poultry supplier has offered to take them back, but my daughter is distraught so feel like we need to deal with the problem, but not if it will just be an ongoing battle against them.

 

Once you have had them does that mean that they will always be a problem?

 

Is diatom and mite control something you just do anyway?

 

It has kind of put me off the whole experience at the moment :-( the eglu is litterally riddled with them, every nook and cranny.

 

Regarding changing the bedding every few days, there were about 6 poohs in the eglu that stank, so I can't see how I wouldn't have to clean them out every day ?

 

thanks for all advice and support.

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I am getting diatom, to dust everything. what about where the run is will they be living or dropping into the grass, should that be treated too, I can't move the eglu to another position, so wondering if I should put powder on the grass or will that be poisonous for the hens to eat?

 

argh, this is so frustrating on our first day of chicken keeping. :(

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Once you gotten rid of them at the moment, they don't nescessarily will have them again. New chickens, visits to farms, wild birds are things that can bring in new infestations.

Most people spray or dust as a precaution.

It is concerning that if there that many, the breeder didn't see them.

 

Easiest and quickest way to get rid might be to just dismantle the coop again and give it a good pressure wash or just bucket and brush with a drop of bleach. Make sure you treat the ground in the run as well as your chickens might have taken a few with them outside. They won't be living in their poos, but might take residence on wooden perches. Like Beantree said, you need to retreat every couple of days for a while to prevent reinfestation.

 

Although very yuck and horrible, it shouldn't be too hard to get rid off.

 

Regarding the poos, chickens do something that is called a ceacal poo, which are smallish sticky poos that resemble chocolate spread. Nothing to worry about. Mine have had watery poos for a few days because of the heat. There is an enormous range in normal poos chickens do.

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You poor thing to get lots of redmite so soon :shock:

Wash those things off your coop and trowel diatom into all the gaps along the ends of the roosting bars and housing joins, dust it over the nestbox material, and give your girls a good powdering - try not the breathe the dust in though. Put it in any dustbath container to help too.

 

If you can bake your coop in the sunshine to dry it will also help kill those :evil: things off.

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Thanks for all advice, loving this forum and all the clever "chicken people"

 

I gave the coup a good clean with disinfectant and dismantled it. left to dry in the sun and dusted the whole thing with diatom and the chicken's duffs and under wings etc. This morning no sign of the mites :clap: the eglu was a doddle to just clean down and I could see the mites so just jetted them off.

 

Terrible start to chicken keeping, but figuring that things can only get better! :lol:

 

We have only had the hybrid POLs for two days now and they come running to us and eat out of our hands, partly due to the fact that my 5 year old daughter has practically lived in the run with them sitting on a little stool singing to them and feeding them corn. Lots of cuddles and wattle stroking, they are well and truly part of the family and very loved, mites and all. :)

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Glad things are looking better :D

Just a thought about the corn - it's not as nutritious as their food so make sure they eat plenty of pellets/mash before filling up on treats, especially as they have been depleted by the Red Menace sucking their blood. If you have a tonic for their water that would help them replenish lost nutrients.

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Hi Jimnpaula.

 

only giving corn in the evening/after school :-).

 

I don't have a water tonic, but I put a bit of poultry spice in their pellets, not sure if that helps, I've got apple cider vinegar, not sure what we do with that yet, have to read up. Should I get a water tonic?

 

Also I put a dust bath in the run, but they don't seem to know what to do with it and have avoided it so far, any tips or is it early days yet (day three chicken keeping)

 

thanks :)

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You might want to consider a spot on ivermectin* based product in future.

Ivermectin 1.0% Drops are for the treatment of most types of worms (not tapeworm),ticks and mites,It is not licensed for use on food producing animals such as chickens and there is an egg withdrawal period.

I use it every three/four months and worm every four months with flubervent

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I am full of admiration for your calmness in dealing with all this in your first few days of chicken keeping! It was really bad luck to have the red mite infestation as the great thing about the Eglu is it should be less vulnerable than a wooden coop. I too learnt all my chicken know-how through regularly reading all the posts on this forum thread plus those in the 'clinic' and 'eggs' sections so I was well prepared for all sorts of potential worries! I'm sure your daughter (if not the cat) will love keeping chickens as they have such distinct personalities and quickly 'train' their human owners to provide them with all sorts of treats and benefits! Don't every try and calculate the 'price per egg' of the ones you'll soon start to get as it is terrifyingly high!

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thanks all for tips and advice,

 

I have bought some worm pellets, verm x I think, hoping that will work.

No sign of the red mite now, so hoping if I keep putting the diatom on the perches/gaps for a while it will eliminate them.

 

I have nick named them the "BOB BOB BOBBERS" because that is the noise they make and that is what comes out the other end too, lots of it :roll:

 

I am in the process of trying to design something like the fine tines bedding fork (but cheaper) to pick up the poop off the lawn quickly. I am hosing it into the grass at the moment, but would like to actually pick it up and bin it.

 

Listening to womans hour, doing the ironing and watching them scratting around in the flower beds in the sunshine is very theraputic, winter might be a different experience, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Happy days. :)

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Remember that Verm-X is only a herbal remedy that is said to aid gut flora and hygiene. Nowhere does it say that Verm-X actually kills worms or gets rid of a worm infestation in chickens.

The website and packaging suggests it might prevent worm infestation. But also states good environmental hygiene is very important when using this product.

 

Personally I'm not convinced that this will actually do anything. Nor is it supported by any research. It's like hitting your head with a tea bag to cure a headache. Won't do any harm, but won't do any good either.

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