Keeping Chickens Free Range

[slordaz]

Seriously I can't wait lol this is the most precious thing ever!!!

it is until chicken math catches up to you lol, my flock hatched 30 chicks this year so time to build new coop , sold half of them, luckily we only got 2 roosters 1 in our flock and 1 in the sold chicks

at least Junior didn't inherit his dads bad attitude with people, he did pick up on the be nice to the hens really quick after I chased the red to see how he liked being chased like he did the hens. seems to have calmed down some after a few laps around the corral being chased lol. Junior is already bigger than his dad by time he was 4 months old, he's a cross between Barred Rock Rooster and black sexlink hen

 

[lazy gardener]

Pretty boy.

 

[lcertuche]

That means he's about 3/4 barred rock. He should be good size. My sex link cockerels are on the small size but I was surprised at how plump their breast was to be so small. They probably got that from their barred rock mama.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Do your chickens get ticks venturing out? I think one of my chickens might possibly have one but not sure, need to look better tomorrow. Felt this bump thing and thought i saw something but could be wrong. I've occasionally felt them before but figured it was just the feathers being set weird especially becsuse I've looked before. Well anyway, idk if it is a tick or not but if it is i feel awful if its been a while and i didnt notice but i dont think it has been.

 

[plm6846]

Not a chicken tick if seen or felt during day...chicken ticks must return to wood like Dracula upon sunlight. Any other tick perhaps but not a chicken/fowel tick. Ticks on chickens arrive from wild birds that gift them with critters of the night. They do not randomly arrive during free ranging...unless they are the other kind of ticks which a chicken will preen and eat. Chicken ticks are only seen well after the sun sets and return to their wood haven well before sun rise and suck the poor chicken dry as they are sleeping comfy on their wooden roost...which is probably the best path to the chicken the beasties use..sadly it took us literally months to find what was making our flock ill. Too luck.

 

[Victoria-nola]

Not a chicken tick if seen or felt during day...chicken ticks must return to wood like Dracula upon sunlight. Any other tick perhaps but not a chicken/fowel tick. Ticks on chickens arrive from wild birds that gift them with critters of the night. They do not randomly arrive during free ranging...unless they are the other kind of ticks which a chicken will preen and eat. Chicken ticks are only seen well after the sun sets and return to their wood haven well before sun rise and suck the poor chicken dry as they are sleeping comfy on their wooden roost...which is probably the best path to the chicken the beasties use..sadly it took us literally months to find what was making our flock ill. Too luck.

May I ask how you treated for the chicken ticks?

 

[lazy gardener]

Not a chicken tick if seen or felt during day...chicken ticks must return to wood like Dracula upon sunlight. Any other tick perhaps but not a chicken/fowel tick. Ticks on chickens arrive from wild birds that gift them with critters of the night. They do not randomly arrive during free ranging...unless they are the other kind of ticks which a chicken will preen and eat. Chicken ticks are only seen well after the sun sets and return to their wood haven well before sun rise and suck the poor chicken dry as they are sleeping comfy on their wooden roost...which is probably the best path to the chicken the beasties use..sadly it took us literally months to find what was making our flock ill. Too luck.

I think you are describing roost mites.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Not a chicken tick if seen or felt during day...chicken ticks must return to wood like Dracula upon sunlight. Any other tick perhaps but not a chicken/fowel tick. Ticks on chickens arrive from wild birds that gift them with critters of the night. They do not randomly arrive during free ranging...unless they are the other kind of ticks which a chicken will preen and eat. Chicken ticks are only seen well after the sun sets and return to their wood haven well before sun rise and suck the poor chicken dry as they are sleeping comfy on their wooden roost...which is probably the best path to the chicken the beasties use..sadly it took us literally months to find what was making our flock ill. Too luck.

Thanks. That does make sense, i just thought maybe they could pick them up in the woods? But you are right they would probably eat them.

I think you are describing roost mites.

That does sound more like it

May I ask how you treated for the chicken ticks?

I'd like to know too

 

[plm6846]

I did post my rather criptic experience here somewhere but I will try the shortened version. Our rather traumatic finding of chicken/fowel ticks began in June. At that time we had three coops and 21 hens one Roo. We lost 7 hens when our heat hit no we have never ever lost that many in our 4+ years of keeping chickens! Our chickens were in a continual moulting state, weak, loosing weight, intermittent diarrhea when we discovered our uninvited beasties! Good reason to have a weakened immune system to die from 118 degree heat,for sure! We started spraying with Orange guard, power washed and sprayed again and again. We then had so many we disassembled siding and found such a huge infestation we burned coop one to the ground! The beasties had moved into coop two but I was determined not to loose another expnsive labor of love so I researched and attacked. Our 8 legged uninvited guests live where wood touches wood so we saturated all surfaces with Orange guard removed all hay from coop and boxes (found they love it there too). I climbed into coop and caulked and sealed all wood to wood surfaces, dusted everywhere with DE and permethrin dust and waited. They kept arriving!! At night creepy crawling up onto my girls! So I sprayed hens with poultry protect and hit the coop with Raid! Lots of Raid! No hens in the coop for a couple of days. Removed roosts rebuilt them painted them and sealed 8 inches of ends with flex seal (plastic stuff). I waited..toxic so far was my friend!! Dead and dieing beasties so I waited. Two weeks retreat with Raid wait and wait..no more beasties!! We celebrated by putting wood shavings in coop and boxes..big kind not fine the beasties hate the big stuff. Dusted all with DE and permethrin dust and retreat with poultry protect. Finally feathers growing, egg quality returning with hard shells and less failed eggs, slowly gaining weight..sadly we did loose one favorite hen during this time she just couldn't recover her anemia Etc. No more diarrhea!! I check every night (can only see them at night with flashlight) so far all is good. Our third coop was new and not close to the other two and chickens don't mingle across the wash..good thing since birds drop guests to coop they crawl to hens and wait for 7-10 days then fall to find wood which is required for their ugly exoskeleton maintenance and proceed to breed and eat from then on! Not mites..specific to birds of feather, not horses, goats, dogs, cats, or human hosts..the other ticks like those folks these ticks are a particular lot and prefer feathered hosts. Good luck..do your research.. Toxic is not recommended ever..but I resorted to it to save my girls.

 

[Victoria-nola]

I did post my rather criptic experience here somewhere but I will try the shortened version. Our rather traumatic finding of chicken/fowel ticks began in June. At that time we had three coops and 21 hens one Roo. We lost 7 hens when our heat hit no we have never ever lost that many in our 4+ years of keeping chickens! Our chickens were in a continual moulting state, weak, loosing weight, intermittent diarrhea when we discovered our uninvited beasties! Good reason to have a weakened immune system to die from 118 degree heat,for sure! We started spraying with Orange guard, power washed and sprayed again and again. We then had so many we disassembled siding and found such a huge infestation we burned coop one to the ground! The beasties had moved into coop two but I was determined not to loose another expnsive labor of love so I researched and attacked. Our 8 legged uninvited guests live where wood touches wood so we saturated all surfaces with Orange guard removed all hay from coop and boxes (found they love it there too). I climbed into coop and caulked and sealed all wood to wood surfaces, dusted everywhere with DE and permethrin dust and waited. They kept arriving!! At night creepy crawling up onto my girls! So I sprayed hens with poultry protect and hit the coop with Raid! Lots of Raid! No hens in the coop for a couple of days. Removed roosts rebuilt them painted them and sealed 8 inches of ends with flex seal (plastic stuff). I waited..toxic so far was my friend!! Dead and dieing beasties so I waited. Two weeks retreat with Raid wait and wait..no more beasties!! We celebrated by putting wood shavings in coop and boxes..big kind not fine the beasties hate the big stuff. Dusted all with DE and permethrin dust and retreat with poultry protect. Finally feathers growing, egg quality returning with hard shells and less failed eggs, slowly gaining weight..sadly we did loose one favorite hen during this time she just couldn't recover her anemia Etc. No more diarrhea!! I check every night (can only see them at night with flashlight) so far all is good. Our third coop was new and not close to the other two and chickens don't mingle across the wash..good thing since birds drop guests to coop they crawl to hens and wait for 7-10 days then fall to find wood which is required for their ugly exoskeleton maintenance and proceed to breed and eat from then on! Not mites..specific to birds of feather, not horses, goats, dogs, cats, or human hosts..the other ticks like those folks these ticks are a particular lot and prefer feathered hosts. Good luck..do your research.. Toxic is not recommended ever..but I resorted to it to save my girls.

Thank you for sharing this. I will check to make sure whether our coop is clear of this. You say you can only see them at night with a flashlight... did you just wait and hope to see them crawling? I'm wondering how to be able to tell for sure.