Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

mardatha

Wondering if anybody knows where I'd get an old fashioned hen book ? Like old country cures type thing?

ljonski

I have found ant powder a really good way to kill red mite. though it is not licenced for chicken use i believe it is safe !

rachbc

Steel wrote: »

How is she doing? Have you had a chance to check her crop this morning?

She had a good peck about in the garden yesterday and seem chirpier but still not eating much, however this morning she is much brighter - crop seems to be clear (if I checked right) and is eating again.

Phew - its more nerve wracking than havign babies this hen keeping!

kayl

Am upset, as I appear to have a red mite problem too. I keep my girls in an eglu which I bought at great expense as I was led to believe that unlikely to have red mites with them as no wooden parts.
I used the power jet on Saturday for a thorough clean ( though that was before I realised that I had a problem)
Having read the above, I think that I had better get out the Jeyes and buy some diatom. Has anyone any recommendations for the best place to get it?
The strange thing is that I have 2 hens and only one seems to be affected. One is as perky as ever, but the other has simply not wanted to shift from the nest for a few days, and has not laid. When my daughter lifted her out this morning, she has reported tiny red spiders crawling all over her, so I'm assumning that this is indeed red mite. Anu other advice?

ljonski

red spiders are different from red mite and pose no threat.
red mite dissapear during the day and are unlikely to be on the chiken

how is her crown ? Is it red
if there are red mite the last place a chook wants to be is amongst them
There may be something else wrong with her.
For red mite- best to check at night with a torch

kayl

Thanks very much for that. I was confused as when I googled redmite, it refers to them as having 8 legs!
Her crown is still red, and her only symptoms are not laying and a general reluctance to get off the roost. She is one year old. Could it just be broodiness? Neither hen has really moulted yet and the only period they did not lay well was for the month of November - apart from that I have been getting 12 eggs a week from the paid of them

Mojisola

mardatha wrote: »

Wondering if anybody knows where I'd get an old fashioned hen book ? Like old country cures type thing?

For a general cure-all/tonic, we use olive oil that's had garlic steeping in it. If an immediate treatment is needed, squeeze the contents of a few garlic pearls into the oil.

The poorly hen gets a few doses during the day, administered through a pipette. It's a two-person job!

mardatha

LOL I can just imagine that job Mojisola! Thanks for this .

Steel_2

rachbc wrote: »

She had a good peck about in the garden yesterday and seem chirpier but still not eating much, however this morning she is much brighter - crop seems to be clear (if I checked right) and is eating again.

Phew - its more nerve wracking than havign babies this hen keeping!

Great news! Keep an eye on her for any more tail down postures. Sometimes if they're having a problem laying an egg they do it. Also if they have peritonitis. My chickens have had both and both did the 'tail down'. generally though, sick chickens fluff up, pull in their neck and go tail down when they're feeling sick.

I've had to pick bits of broken stuck shell out of a chicken's...well...foofoo (to be polite) before when one was tail down.

Hell of way to spend an hour with a pot of vaseline.

Steel_2

mardatha wrote: »

Wondering if anybody knows where I'd get an old fashioned hen book ? Like old country cures type thing?

I don't but I do have a recipe to help build up sick chickens

You can find it in post 6 of this thread here

I know it says for rickets but this lady has actually given out this formula before many times on that forum for a good few ailments.

I always feed my sick chickens this and sometimes give it to the girls in the winter as a bit of a booster.