A
Anonymous
Guest
hello everyone,
Im a newby to this site,so excuse me if i go on with myself abit,i have been keeping chickens for about a yr now,have 3 bluebells,3 sussex to which 1 is a new mum of 3 weeks,and the other 2 sitting on a batch of eggs each and i forgot 2 cuckoo marans.
ive noticed 3 of my hens have bare bottoms,1 maran bless her has a very red bottom ,bottom fluffy feathers missing,the other 2 which are bluebells to my disbelief when i checked them around their vents have i think are lice,little tiny cream coloured things moving about,what concerns me is at the bottom of the feather shaft there is crusty little round cases,attached to the feather,which i believe is egg cases,when these hatch will their be more lice,fortunatley ive got lice powder in ,so ive treated all 8 chickens tonight,starting at the neck,under the wings,chest,and especially their bottoms,the tub doesnt state though when the lice die or fall off,and when i treat the hens again,only the 3 hens were bad ,checked the others,they didnt have any,sprinkled the nest boxes which has wood shavings,and the coop,i know you only do the hens not the coop,got abit over zelos,but nevermind,the maran had no lice just a sore bottom,what happens to the feathers with the cases on,can i trim them off ,because when they hatch im at stage one again,or shall i leave well alone,just looks bad,every feather on her bottom has cases on,looks really uncomfortable,the hens dust bathe every day how come it hasnt got rid of the lice.
my second small concern is one of my sussex hens is a new mum of 6 chicks,three week old now,brilliant mum,bit over protective sometimes,i had them in my run,where i had an area isolated for mum and babys,mum has been desperate to come out,so for the past 4 days ive been letting her out to mix with the other hens and chicks,at first there was alittle telling off but nothing drastic,the other hens seem to accepted the chicks,in fact the chicks are quite cheeky going up to the adult hens and nicking their treats when i give them some,been talking to a friend of mine ,who has a small holding,telling me i should not mix the chicks with my other hens as they can bully them and might kill them,infact mum sees of the hens sometimes,but my hens seem to look out for them too,as ive had them out together ,mum got to the point two nights ago where she wanted to root up in the coop with the others,she left the chicks going mad for her,so i decided to put her nesting box in the coop,to see what would happen,she jumped down then guided the chicks in their with her,so now all hens and mum,chicks, are now in the coop at night,when i open their door into the run out they all come together,have i done the right thing,or do i still keep them serperate,took the mums lead really ,think she felt safer with them in the coop,to me the hens will accept them better as they get older now,because they have been mixing with them now,dont know really its trial and error sometimes with chickens isnt it,told you everybody i waffle on sometimes,do excuse me,someone please advise if you have had a similar situation,mum tonight got that frustrated tonight because she wanted to be out of the isoation area caught her comb and was bleeding quite abit,so telling me ,let me out mum ,when can i remove her from the chicks,or will she decide herself ,thanks everyone
Im a newby to this site,so excuse me if i go on with myself abit,i have been keeping chickens for about a yr now,have 3 bluebells,3 sussex to which 1 is a new mum of 3 weeks,and the other 2 sitting on a batch of eggs each and i forgot 2 cuckoo marans.
ive noticed 3 of my hens have bare bottoms,1 maran bless her has a very red bottom ,bottom fluffy feathers missing,the other 2 which are bluebells to my disbelief when i checked them around their vents have i think are lice,little tiny cream coloured things moving about,what concerns me is at the bottom of the feather shaft there is crusty little round cases,attached to the feather,which i believe is egg cases,when these hatch will their be more lice,fortunatley ive got lice powder in ,so ive treated all 8 chickens tonight,starting at the neck,under the wings,chest,and especially their bottoms,the tub doesnt state though when the lice die or fall off,and when i treat the hens again,only the 3 hens were bad ,checked the others,they didnt have any,sprinkled the nest boxes which has wood shavings,and the coop,i know you only do the hens not the coop,got abit over zelos,but nevermind,the maran had no lice just a sore bottom,what happens to the feathers with the cases on,can i trim them off ,because when they hatch im at stage one again,or shall i leave well alone,just looks bad,every feather on her bottom has cases on,looks really uncomfortable,the hens dust bathe every day how come it hasnt got rid of the lice.
my second small concern is one of my sussex hens is a new mum of 6 chicks,three week old now,brilliant mum,bit over protective sometimes,i had them in my run,where i had an area isolated for mum and babys,mum has been desperate to come out,so for the past 4 days ive been letting her out to mix with the other hens and chicks,at first there was alittle telling off but nothing drastic,the other hens seem to accepted the chicks,in fact the chicks are quite cheeky going up to the adult hens and nicking their treats when i give them some,been talking to a friend of mine ,who has a small holding,telling me i should not mix the chicks with my other hens as they can bully them and might kill them,infact mum sees of the hens sometimes,but my hens seem to look out for them too,as ive had them out together ,mum got to the point two nights ago where she wanted to root up in the coop with the others,she left the chicks going mad for her,so i decided to put her nesting box in the coop,to see what would happen,she jumped down then guided the chicks in their with her,so now all hens and mum,chicks, are now in the coop at night,when i open their door into the run out they all come together,have i done the right thing,or do i still keep them serperate,took the mums lead really ,think she felt safer with them in the coop,to me the hens will accept them better as they get older now,because they have been mixing with them now,dont know really its trial and error sometimes with chickens isnt it,told you everybody i waffle on sometimes,do excuse me,someone please advise if you have had a similar situation,mum tonight got that frustrated tonight because she wanted to be out of the isoation area caught her comb and was bleeding quite abit,so telling me ,let me out mum ,when can i remove her from the chicks,or will she decide herself ,thanks everyone
hi david,
