It seems to be one thing after another

Today was the second day of the girls having flubenvet in their mash and when I did my mid day poop pick I found a second worm. At least this means it’s working as the flunenvet should cause the worms to be expelled with the poop.

After lunch I intended to clean out the main coop and change the pine shavings. As always I used disposable gloves and always run a finger around to check for any tell tale blood smears indicating the dreaded red mite. After two and a half years of chicken keeping today was the dreaded day when I discovered red mite in the coop.

I couldn’t believe the bad luck of finding worms and red mite for the first time in the same week. My poor girls, yet they all look well and are laying apart from Amber and Honey’s recent soft shells.

We swung into action and spent the entire afternoon dealing with it. I had read all about it in the past so was prepared. First we emptied the coop. We then vacumed the coop, the patio area and the fence and anything in this area.

We then sprayed the coop with red mite spray. My husband then set about taking the entire coop apart. He removed the roof and took every panel apart. We treated each part with the spray as they get into any crevices.

We left the carcass of the coop in the run as it won’t fit through the gate but all the other parts were sprayed then put into the shed to dry.

I washed all the feed and water dishes.

I picked up Emerald as she is the only one I can pick up easily and we dusted her with flee and mite powder. I sprinkled the powder in the all the places the girls dust bath. We will treat the rest of the flock tonight when they roost and we will be able to pick them up easily.

The coop treatment needs to be done three times at three day intervals to break the cycle of mites and eggs.

I was wondering about leaving the girls to roost outside. I rang my friend Jackie and told her what was happening and she very kindly offered to lend me her dog kennel which gets used as a spare coop when needed.

I went and collected it straight away. I wouldn’t have minded too much the girls being out for one night but it could take a long time to get the coop clear. If it needs to be repeated three times apart every three days that is nine days then it will take a further day or two to dry out. Once dry we intend to seal all the crevices with silicon sealant to protect it from this happening again. Having a spare coop will mean we can take our time to be sure we get rid of them rather than rush it and risk the coop getting infected again.

Temporary coop

The girls inspect the temporary coop and the carcass of the original coop is in the background. The girls were very interested in the changes. It won’t be a problem not having an automatic door opener as I am up early every day to let the chicks out.

We checked the little coop/nest box and the chicks little coop and both were clear.

We do seem to be lurching from one problem to the next and having finally sorted out the plucking problem it seems we are being thrown other problems to deal with.

I do feel like I have a neglected looking flock here despite my best efforts to give them the best life possible. I have girls that have been plucked, an eye infection, girls that struggle to lay, worms and red mite all at once and yet I have followed every rule in the book to give them the best life possible.

The main thing is that we have reacted quickly and these problems will be sorted. I am amazed how well my flock look under the circumstances. They all have massive dust baths every day so maybe this has been helping them with the red mite.

I won’t be integrating the chicks until all these problems are solved so it may be a while before they can join the flock. The most important thing is to make sure it is safe before integration and not to expose them to any potential problem.

I feel like I am being thrown the book of problems to deal with all at once but the flock seem happy so hopefully fast and thorough action will nip this in the bud and the flock can carry on happily.

Tomorrow is another day.