Chicken Mites

[tortoise]

I'm sorry you had that experience. When I was grooming at the vet clinic, I bathed a few cats that accidentally got the dog's flea treatment. I always felt bad for the owners, they felt terrible over the mix-up.

 

[Chic Rustler]

I second the sulfar. Sulfar is a great mineral! It cures just about anything. I have used it for mange, ear mites, and once when a chicken was molting and i thought it was sick.

If i thought they had worms i might give sulfar a shot for that too.... but in small doses

 

[tortoise]

DH took the roosters out and caged them (thank god! I hate that mean rooster!). He caught a hen and looked her over. Feathers are broken and he didn't notice mites. I'm hoping they're naked-backed from overbreeding. Maybe the DE is working? I will have to try to catch and inspect. *I* have gotten chicken mites on me when in the barn, so I know they're out there. I doubt we can get rid of the mites completely, but I don't want so many that the chickens are miserable.

 

[Beekissed]

Sulfur powder is good for mites if the DE isn't working. You need you a chicken sling so that looking your birds over is a breeze!

One of ladies on TEG finally made one out of a cloth grocery bag or some such she had and hung it up, said it revolutionized her chicken life.

Her post:

Didn't someone on here post about putting chickens in a hanging sling to work on them???

I want to THANK that person!!!! Last night I was able to vent-check half the flock and trim butt feathers & spurs - ALONE - with NO struggle. It was SOOO NICE to be able to use both hands to work instead of trying to hold a chicken tucked under one arm and work with the other. I was AMAZED that they went absolutely still once I placed them in the sling! They were so relaxed that I had to coax them to LEAVE once I was finished and put them on the ground. It's some sort of chicken sorcery!
I used an old re-usable shopping bag - the tyvec/cloth ones. I just cut one side panel away completely for their legs/butt to hang out and cut a slit all the way down the other side panel for their head to poke out. The handles made hanging it easy.
So simple! But life changing. I will never put off care again because of dreading the ordeal.

I love mine!

 

[tortoise]

Haha, does that sling CATCH them for me? I'm gonna worry about THAT first!

 

[Beekissed]

Haha, does that sling CATCH them for me? I'm gonna worry about THAT first!

That's easy! Just lift them off the roost at night. Of course, if you have a big barn with chickens roosting everywhere, that becomes a tad more difficult.

I have a light in my coop and a work surface, so I just slip them in the sling, work them over, slip them out and back on the roosts. They are so calm with this sling they don't even know what I did before they are back with their chums.

 

[tortoise]

Ooo, never thought of that! They're in a pen and the older hens roost. Not enough space for the juveniles to roost. One of the things I can tend to now that the roosters are out!


THANK YOU!

 

[Hinotori]

Haha, does that sling CATCH them for me? I'm gonna worry about THAT first!

Yes. Picking them off the roost is easiest, but a soft trout net works well for catching them

 

[tortoise]

I caught a chicken today! In daylight. She is a bit lame and badly pecked. I put her in a cage, we'll see if she survives. BUT I CAUGHT A CHICKEN!

I also caught a wild songbird today. It was on my deck and not flying right. I picked it up and put it in a tree. It wasn't in the area later.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Yay! Lol! My husband has a leg grabber on a long pole. He catches chickens and turkeys. I can't catch any of them. If they need to be caught, they wait til he gets home. (they rarely need to be caught, thank goodness)