Our Hen Adventure

[KatieW90]

We managed to catch a rat first night the trap was out! he's now happily living in some woods a few miles away. Haven't caught anymore but found shredded newspaper in the shed, so something's still hanging around.

The girls have been out most of the day and all seemed normal. We put them to bed but noticed they were still up a couple of hours later (usually straight off to sleep) so kept checking them. It was a bit dark but we saw some tiny black bugs in the sleeping part of the house and all the girls were pecking either under their wings or on their legs. Not much we can do in the dark, so will have to wash the house before work then off to the pet shop to see what treatments they advise.

The poor things seemed really miserable and not able to sleep. First night we've noticed anything like this (and I often get Peep out for a cuddle when she's all sleepy and warm ) so hopefully will have caught whatever this is soon.

[sandy]

Oh Katie I think you need a good spring clean and some redmite killer then some DE over the girls or even better get some frontline from your vet…
What a lovely person you are taking the rat for a ride to freedom

[bikesandbirdsbob]

D E powder on line .
Do not feel to bad it comes with chicken keeping .
Treat as soon as possible D E in bedding / perches etc.
Dark ones are night time normal . Light ones on all day.
Bob

[KarenE]

How are the girls now - did you sort out the red mite problem? (It did sound like red mite)

[KatieW90]

Hi Karen, girls are ok thank you. Sorry it took so long for a reply!

Update: my husband and I have been on holiday (at home) so the girls have had a lovely couple of weeks being outside all day and digging up our garden! It's lucky they're so cute that they can get away with these things

The red mites seemed to go but are now back and there are more than ever we've they washing out the house and using a cleaning solution every few days and the mites are back the same night. We've tried putting more powder in the cracks of the house and on the girls but they just won't go. The plan is to keep going and hope eventually we'll get them all. The girls aren't as itchy at night as they used to be but it's horrible for them.

Sweetie seems to think she's a house chicken and we have found her upstairs on quite a few occasions lately. She loves the bed and digging up the duvet

They've also been introduced to corn on the cob to keep them busy when we're at work. They all love this but hate sharing, and don't seek to like having to work to get the corn off.

Poor Dolly had a prolapsed vent yesterday we only noticed because Sweetie was really chasing her and then saw it. I had been playing with them on the garden just before and hadn't noticed. So I think we caught it very early on. My husband managed to get it back in and clean her up (I felt awful not helping but blood is the one thing I can't deal with very well - obviously would have if he wasn't around but so lucky he was!). She's been on bed rest in a big box in the garage with just water yesterday and a little bit of corn this morning.

So far it seems to have stayed in place but all the advice I've read is a dark bed and minimal corn for a few days to stop her laying for a few days. We've been letting them all out for a quick play in the garden together though so Dolly doesn't get forgotten and loose her place in the pecking order!

[kitla]

poor you, you're getting a bit of a crash course in the problem side of chicken keeping! Foxes, rats, redmite... and oh poor little Dolly, I hope she recovers ok, that's something I havent had to face.
I've recently beaten a small outbreak of redmite. The best thing I've found is spraying with poultryshield (I use one of those garden spray bottles that you pump to increase the pressure). leave the coop soaking for 20 mins then see which nooks the are coming from & spray in there with a redmite killer spray. When it's dried out I shake some ant powder in the worst places & dust with enough DE that the mites have to crawl through it to get to the chooks but not so much that it'll make the girls cough! Once when there where loads of them I used a fumer too, that really helped.

[sandy]

You certainly are going through it arent you LOts of to Dolly on a full recovery

[KatieW90]

Thanks Sandy and thanks Kitla for advice re the fumer. I've saw one in pets at hone yesterday and it looks quite scary, but will give it a go if the mites hang around. I don't know how they're still surviving!

Dolly seems so much better in herself already. One day of rest and she couldn't wait to be back with the others. All the advice we read says keep her isolated for up to a week but she was so desperate to be in her normal house we let her go back after one day.

As it's getting a bit rainy lately we bough the girls their own dust bath to have in their house where it can stay dry. But they've not got the hang of that yet and have been using it as a toilet instead or just eating from it

[sandy]

I was used a fumer, it killed woodlice and spiders but did b**** all to the red mite. Another good trick is full fat coca cola(cheap version) spray over the nooks and crannies, Manda taught me that one.

[KatieW90]

Just a quick update to say that poor Lolly had to be put down tonight I came home and only saw 4 chickens so knew something wasn't quite right. I found her huddled in bed and then could see she'd had a vent prolapse, which looked a lot worse than what Dolly had the other week.

The vet thinks she was pecked at and it wasn't anything they could fix. She was very sleepy by the time we got her there and didn't fuss, just went off to sleep

[kitla]

oh dear that's sad, Dolly will miss her. But what a lucky henny to spend her last summer in a lovely home and cared for right to the end.

[KarenE]

Katie I'm so sorry to hear the news about Lolly. It's so upsetting when they are sick and there's that horrible decision to have to make. Although of course sometimes it's just not a decision really - it's the only thing to do. You gave her a lovely life, and a quick and dignified end.

to you and the rest of your girls

[bikesandbirdsbob]

Sad news and thoughts with you , .
Bob

[sandy]

I am so sorry you have lost your little Lolly

[KatieW90]

Thank you all for your kind words I keep thinking I can see her and looking for a fifth when counting them in. She was so happy though which is what we wanted for her