One of the most common things to 'go wrong' when keeping chickens, is lice. For the last 18 months we have been lucky and not had to deal with that hurdle. @EddieBowes, bless his soul, spends so much time hanging out with the chickens that he's the first to know when something's wrong with one of them.
Yesterday Eddie noticed bugs on Mr. Pendock's neck when he was holding him playing with his neck feathers. Right away he came and told me and we researched what it could be. I read lice would be particularly bad around the vent (bum) and under the wings, so Eddie went back out and got him, and sure enough Mr. Pendock had quite a few around his vent. We went through the rest of the flock, about 1/2 of them had at least some lice.
Today We Went To Work
Cleaning out the coop. Get all the old straw and wood shavings out, sweep and scrub. We were so lucky that it was unseasonably warm today. The perfect day for this shitty job :)
I also feel so happy that Eddie caught it right away. I would have noticed the lice, but not until the girls started over preening and looking agitated. The lice would have had so much more time to multiply! The chickens didn't have any under their wings yet, just their vents, and some on Mr. Pendock's neck, none of the others had any on their necks.
Dawn King curious about what Eddie's doing to her coop...
We have the hatch to the coop closed, don't want any chickens escaping! Eddie will have to catch them soon one by one for us to treat them. Those poor guys didn't get to free range today until an hour before dusk.
@Hendrix22 and Eddie went to our local farm supplies store to pick up straw, and this DE. We'll put the DE in their dust bath areas, in the coop, and then dust their poor chicken bums.
I went through the whole greenhouse with this. They have like 15 different dust bathing holes in there lol!
This Little Leghorn Had It Bad
This poor gal, let me tell you about her lot in life. Not only is she moulting right now, she is also Mr. Pendock's favourite hen. She gets mated so often by him that she's permanently missing patches of feathers on her wings. Her vent feathers were pretty dirty (the ones she hasn't moulted off yet) so we gave her a bath to try and reduce the lice issue some more.
Eddie and @Hendrix22 working on her, she started trying to get away so I put down the camera to help calm her down.
Sweet little thing, I think she's starting to enjoy her Spa...
I'm telling her how beautiful she is hehehe...
"Just hurry up and finish scrubbing my ass...I am not impressed with this "Spa" as you call it."
A gorgeous day in the Bowes backyard.
All swaddled up and ready to go inside to dry off.
Omg Brendan you are sooooooo cute hahaha!
Drying herself off by the heater.
Now The Tricky Part
Dusting chicken bums...Eddie would go into the run, catch a chicken, then I would hold them while he rubbed a bit of the DE around their vents. You'll notice we are wearing bandanas, it's not good to get DE in your lungs or eyes.
I'll definitely be keeping you all posted on how this treatment works. And I do apologize if you are itching and scratching all over by now...Thanks for witnessing our journey.
Wow, there is so much more to keeping chickens than I ever imagined. Being a city boy originally I don't know much about taking care of poultry. I hope to have a place with enough land in the not to distant future and be able to start homesteading.
Thank you to the Bowes family for being an inspiration.
Great post Lyndsay. 😉
Poor birds! We haven't had to deal with lice yet (knocking on wood...) but a neighborhood fox got a couple of our bantams so they're not free ranging at the moment. Plans are in the works for a bigger run.
It's so sweet how involved Eddie is with the chickens. And you two with the bandannas on! It looks like you're a couple of outlaws ready to make a run on the local bank feed and grain store! Put your hands where I can see 'em and hand over the diatomaceous, ya hear?
And this song came on just as I clicked on your story. Not chickens but still pretty appropriate:
WOW!!! A day in the life of a chicken. Why do we complain when we itch? It is so awesome that Eddie caught all this in time. The whole thing could have been a complete disaster. In their sweet litle chicken souls they are saying thank yoou. I am pretty sure Eddie looks like a farmer in the photos with the wheelbarrow. Much to soon to pick a career however landscaping and farming or perhaps construction come to mind. He looks right at home with the wheelbarrow and the pitch fork. A great day homesteading and I hope thats the end. Not sure if its a weekly thing you have to do? Good luck with it. poor little hennys.
Yes, we do have to do it again in a week, because there's most likely eggs which will hatch by then. Eddie does look so great hey?!! Our kids have skills!!!
@EddieBowes definitely has the makings of a true Chicken Ninja. He will have to go away to the secret camp in the mountains soon to complete his training 😎
Luckily so far our chickens haven't had lice. I think it must be because they often sleep in the trees.
I'm just going to move one of the two chicken flocks into the old goat shed in the back garden as it is getting too cold for free ranging now. I can let them out to clean up the empty beds as well.
Wow you had a very exciting day on the Bowes homestead. I didn't know chickens could get lice either. Not all would do this for their animals. What great people you are to care for your animals as you do. I always learns something when I read your posts.
Thank you SeaReader, they seem to be doing well today, we have to do another treatment in a week's time to kill the rest that may hatch by then...I'm definitely itching all over just thinking about it!
You did a lot of work. lol. Good for you. If it was me, I would have just put the DE in as a dust bath. They will dust themselves and do all the work! Bravo to Eddie for noticing. That is half the battle when being a good steward. Observation, research and action! Kudos to you all.
We just had this problem with mites! I wish you luck! We even had to change what kind of bedding we used. Our mites liked living in straw so we have switched to pine shavings.
I'm so happy hearing that you found the solution to the mites. I'm sure we will come across that pest too one day, mites sounded so much worse to deal with than lice from what I was reading, I'm so sorry you had to go through that :(
Wow, there is so much more to keeping chickens than I ever imagined. Being a city boy originally I don't know much about taking care of poultry. I hope to have a place with enough land in the not to distant future and be able to start homesteading.
Thank you to the Bowes family for being an inspiration.
Great post Lyndsay. 😉
Awwww....I would love to see this day!!! We can trade chicken photos heheeee!!!
Poor birds! We haven't had to deal with lice yet (knocking on wood...) but a neighborhood fox got a couple of our bantams so they're not free ranging at the moment. Plans are in the works for a bigger run.
It's so sweet how involved Eddie is with the chickens. And you two with the bandannas on! It looks like you're a couple of outlaws ready to make a run on the
local bankfeed and grain store! Put your hands where I can see 'em and hand over the diatomaceous, ya hear?And this song came on just as I clicked on your story. Not chickens but still pretty appropriate:
BA HAHHAAAA!!! This is one hell of a song, I can always rely on you to introduce me to new and often very different music <3 <3 Love ya Winston!
Now to go do this 'job' with Eddie...!
WOW!!! A day in the life of a chicken. Why do we complain when we itch? It is so awesome that Eddie caught all this in time. The whole thing could have been a complete disaster. In their sweet litle chicken souls they are saying thank yoou. I am pretty sure Eddie looks like a farmer in the photos with the wheelbarrow. Much to soon to pick a career however landscaping and farming or perhaps construction come to mind. He looks right at home with the wheelbarrow and the pitch fork. A great day homesteading and I hope thats the end. Not sure if its a weekly thing you have to do? Good luck with it. poor little hennys.
Yes, we do have to do it again in a week, because there's most likely eggs which will hatch by then. Eddie does look so great hey?!! Our kids have skills!!!
Good job you caught it early and glad to see the non chemical treatment!
Yes, it worked out well considering the circumstances, thanks @vibeof100monkeys! Good to see you :)
Good to hear :)
@EddieBowes definitely has the makings of a true Chicken Ninja. He will have to go away to the secret camp in the mountains soon to complete his training 😎
Luckily so far our chickens haven't had lice. I think it must be because they often sleep in the trees.
Ooh I'm so glad you haven't had to deal with it yet, that's awesome!
I will tell Eddie about his ninja status! :D Hehehee
I'm just going to move one of the two chicken flocks into the old goat shed in the back garden as it is getting too cold for free ranging now. I can let them out to clean up the empty beds as well.
Awww....sweet that you have a nice space for them to shelter from the elements in the winter <3 <3 <3
Wow you had a very exciting day on the Bowes homestead. I didn't know chickens could get lice either. Not all would do this for their animals. What great people you are to care for your animals as you do. I always learns something when I read your posts.
Thank you SeaReader, they seem to be doing well today, we have to do another treatment in a week's time to kill the rest that may hatch by then...I'm definitely itching all over just thinking about it!
I'm glad they are doing better. Yes anytime you hear the word LICE it just makes you itch all over.
You did a lot of work. lol. Good for you. If it was me, I would have just put the DE in as a dust bath. They will dust themselves and do all the work! Bravo to Eddie for noticing. That is half the battle when being a good steward. Observation, research and action! Kudos to you all.
Thanks for the tip! Next week that's all we will do then rather than dusting the gals as well.
I'll give Eddie your Kudos! :) :) :) Thanks so much!
Wonderful and informative step by step to get rid of dreaded bird lice! I hope that you have managed to get rid of it!
We just had this problem with mites! I wish you luck! We even had to change what kind of bedding we used. Our mites liked living in straw so we have switched to pine shavings.
I'm so happy hearing that you found the solution to the mites. I'm sure we will come across that pest too one day, mites sounded so much worse to deal with than lice from what I was reading, I'm so sorry you had to go through that :(
You guys are amazing. The good the bad~ you handle it all with grace and elegance xD even scrubbing chickens. LoL Much love!
Much love we have for you too beautiful Sis~It's so great to see you here :) :)
I had to not ruin the 'cosmic surprise' this time like I sort of did on tsu TwT being so excited meeting you all and the work you are here doing.
~ more progress to be made with all you sweethearts painting your beautiful posts, but now its also time to join in the show as @wwf did. ^w^~
Bringing earth home yo!!!
Ooo
Also, came back to pass this newsy update along.
They've got "Nothing" to hide... LOL
Obvious AF LOLOL
https://globalnews.ca/news/3881904/israel-trump-administration-un-settlement-blacklist/
Some one behind the scenes has been doing some epic work ~ ♡ Thanks to you all.