Moulting

[Lucylou]

I'm still learning about this totally consuming hobby & have a question. I have young birds, 4 are 16 weeks, 3 are 12ish weeks. Will they moult this year? & as it will be Autumn when they reach POL will that delay their first laying? I'm so looking forward to the first eggs I hope its won't be the Spring before the first one

Also as they're young, are there any powders, treatments you shouldn't use till they're a bit older? I'm thinking particularly red-mite etc.

 

[snifter]

Nope they shouldn't moult this year.

They may not come into lay until the spring anyways being youngsters, unless they are a specific breed that does lay all year round. I often found even my good egg layers who produced in winter months often didn't come into lay until late Feb or early March if hatched the summer before.

You should be fine to use most things on them once they are fully feathered. TBH though, general good husbandry saves in the long run I find. Keep your hen house and run clean, check your chooks and give them a once over at least once every couple of weeks and then you can catch anything early on. If you spot messy backside feathering, clean it up asap, trim it or whatever also helps.

Prevention is better than cure I find.

 

[Tim]

Yes, agree with Snifter. For many years I would actually buy a few hybrid layers in August so that they came into lay in October and would give me some eggs over the winter. Now I have far too many chickens and usually get a few eggs anyway from my own hatched birds. They may or may not stop laying but they won't moult until the end of their first propper laying cycle which could be August - September next year.

Tim

 

[Lucylou]

Thanks for your info. Seems like I'll have to be patient!!

Snifter, what you recommend is best to clean the house with? I've been a bit worried about using things that might be harmful to the chooks.

 

[snifter]

I personally use Dettol once a month and give my houses a good scrub out with that. There are many safe products you can use to clean, some specifically made for the purpose. And then clean them out at least once a week and put fresh bedding and paper down. Usually twice in summer when flies are about.

I also got given a tip about letting earwigs set up camp in a hen house as they eat red mite. Have to say, since encouraging them into my hen housing I've not had red mite since. Been a few years now. Although when I clean with Dettol I always make sure to save a bunch of earwigs before starting cleaning :lol: Then pop them back in their corners once its all dry and shavings down.

Poultry Shield is meant to be good although it never worked for me.

 

[Tim]

I usually scrape my houses out and then about once a month use poultry shield (kinder to the environment than most products) mixed up in a watering can. I hose everything down after 20 minutes and we're done. If I find red mite then it's battle stations with the pressure washer and Diatom!

The next product I'm going to try is called Smite from Earthly Enterprises. They only supply products that are ecologically responsible and Smite is non toxic and doesn't contain pesticides. It disinfects as well as killing Red mites and their eggs.

I have also started to be kinder towards earwigs I've found in the chicken house since Snifter told me they could be eating Red Mite!

Tim

 

[Anonymous]

Not sure if this works or not,but a close friend of mine who keeps chooks puts rosemary in the hen house with the shavings.She keeps Silkies and Pekins,and has never had a problem with red mite.Apparently red mite do not like rosemary.......I suspect she has actually got lots of earwigs in her hen house ,but I have put rosemary in all the same .

 

[girlracer265]

I'm gonna try the rosemary too then, we have a huge rosemary bush
my chooks love it when i clean out and put in freah shavings, they spend the next few hours throwing it all out again :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

I bought a rosemary before I got my chooks,it's still really small so I've sprinkled dried rosemary in their house instead.Don't know yet how good it will be for mites,but I moved the house today,which did confuse them slightly ,within 10 mins of sprinking the rosemary they had all found home and gone up to bed ,so at least they could smell where their home had moved too .

 

[Tim]

Never heard that one before - it's worth trying though as many other natural remedies smell strong to put mites off - tea tree for example. I've also got a big Rosemary bush (it grows very well) do I'll try it out.

Tim

 

[Anonymous]

It certainly makes the shavings smell nice .

 

[Anonymous]

smite kills earwigs ... or certainly did when I used it for the first time at teh weekend (6% strong)

 

[snifter]

smite kills earwigs ... or certainly did when I used it for the first time at teh weekend (6% strong)

But earwigs are good. They eat red mite and other mites in hen houses. Don't go killing them off if you can help it, especially in summer.

I always used to fish a heap out of the corners of my hen houses before I cleaned them out and then would put the earwigs back in once done. I never had red mite in any hen house where I let earwigs flourish.

 

[Aileen]

Aw god... I don't have many phobias in this world but earwigs...... and now you're telling me they're good for chooks...what a dilemma!! I had a load in my chook house last year and I was physically sick every time I opened and closed their door as that seemed to be where they hid, and to be honest my chickens went mad gobbling them up, that was a great way to start the day from them! :lol: ... But I have a new chook house now and no earwigs... do they just come or are they attracted to a specific pong / foodstuff ??? If it keeps red mite at bay I will grit my teeth and bear it thru the summer months....