@@whitehouseonthehill I have a suggestion. To kill the fleas of my brothers dog I put a bath with blue dawn dishes soap. And soaked it for 15 minutes before that I rubbed some soap on it. U can see them floating in the water. Maybe that helps. You have to I guess cover the beak so they Wong drink the soapy water
3rd year vet student here. While the spot treatment and powder may help, you guys NEED to treat the structures the animals are living in. Many bird mites and ticks ONLY feed at night. So it's a problem we run into when we're called out to barns and coops and can't find any parasites on the bird in the day. But this is because these parasites are only active at night and will actually sleep within the structures the birds live in and only crawl onto them at night to feed. I would inspect any crevices or spaces within those coops you have to check for tiny circular bugs that could be mites or ticks. And these parasites can live months without a blood meal so you have to be on top of your environmental treatment. Spot treatment only works on those parasites that live on your birds. You need to treat the environment or else they will continue to get reinfected. Also the bugs harming your birds legs and making them crusty and deformed is a mite called Knemidocoptes mutans. You can rub petroleum jelly on your birds legs everyday to help loosen the crusts so they fall off. But you will probably need a vet to give your birds and injection of Ivermectin to treat the ectoparasites they have. Otherwise not all the parasites will die and your birds will still suffer from their parasite burdens. As for your peachicks, I would research to ensure youe chickens can even be raising the peachicks. Birds have different viruses that affect species differently. Its part of the reason we cannot house Turkeys and Chickens together or even house turkeys on grounds that chickens have previously lived on. You need to look into the vaccinations your chickens should get especially when they're brooding.
Thank you so much for this information. These mites are such a pain to get rid of and worst off all I know it hurts my chickens. If you don’t mind me asking, what would you recommend for treating the structures where the chickens sleep? Thanks again.
Yes, I remember my grandma once told me that back in the day before all the treatments we have now, they used to spray down inside and out all of their coops with kerosene or neem oil and let it dry several days to kill parasites in all the cracks and crevices. she even told me they would do that for bedbugs also including removing the base boards of the room to get behind them.
@@saadiazourafi6348 i had a lice infestation although kerosene was proposed to me. I opted to use boiling seawater, for the added effects of salt. kerosene leaves a nasty smell behind and boiling sea water is relatively cheap. If you don't have access to sea water just put salt with proper ration to your water, 1 gallon should be 1 pound salt.
This kind of stuff always happens with poultry. I really wish more people would be better prepared for poultry, and that more vets would take them. So sorry you had to go through this! It’s always tough. Love your videos; they help me out all the time!
Also seems like an issue any vet would have been able to see or suggest. Bird lice feels so much more obvious. Like with dogs or cat they always say maybe it flees.
I had some mites on my hamster when I was a kid, brought in with the bedding, a red bird mite or so and these beests are so aggressive in how they feed, that I lost my hamster and I myself got bitten so many times. These birds must have felt bad before they got the treatment
You may want to consider figuring out a way for your chickens and peacocks to have access to dirt where they can take dust baths which also helps controls parasites. Also, diatomaceous earth that is food grade can be added to their food and in their dust baths.
Jake, I used a poultry lice dust. I put the powder in a bag. Place bird inside ( head out) and basically just shake it up and powder your bird. There is also a powder sprayer!! If you have lots of birds this is your best bet be sure to puff your coops!! Roosts, any where they chill. Also the ground and put it where they dist bathe. If you use the sprayer you can literally poof it under wings and by vents, under feathers. Look for mites at night by vent, under wings, around ears and 👀I had to treat EVERY SPRING! 🤦 IT WAS MY 3RD year of chicken keeping when I lost one that I ended up seeing mites on. Mites are smaller than lice!! Both are deadly.
I had similar problems with mites, it was a long struggle until I got rid of them, the best method that worked for me was burning the roosting bars with flames for a short time (if the living space allows such procedure ) every 2 days with regular cleaning and disinfection of the area where they live in addition, in the outer spaces, I provided places for dust baths, where I added a mixture of wood ash with anti-mite powder and since then i have no problems hope you will solve your problems soon...Greetings from Bosnia and Herzegovina!
@@LifeletnothingholdudownI use cedar for fleas, ticks, and mosquitos. Both spray and granules, haven’t had any fleas or ticks in years. Not sure if it’s safe for birds. If it is, I would fog the coops during the day
When we first got chickens we painted any cracks or joins in there coop with a diatomaceous earth and water mixture, then to make a dust bath we used children’s play sand and mixed in diatomaceous earth on a regular basis. My gran has always done this and thankfully never had any problems. Hope you can get this under control and I wish you, your family and all your animals the best. ❣️
@@reeree6682 yes, it is one of the methods of applying DE by mixing with water and spraying it around. It doesn't dissolve in water so once the water evaporates the dry powder remains
2 things about DE. Wear masks when using it and try not to use it around the kids as it can scar lung and sinus tissue. I still have issues as an adult from using it my pigeon coups. You can also put it on dust baths for the chickens and quail, I found it worked to keep all internal and external parasites way down. Also, spray the interior of your cages and coups as the lice and mites will hide in the cracks. There are plenty of organic pest sprays on the market
@@TheL12213 The amount you put in the dust bath is minimal. If you notice they spread it on the floors of the coop and other enclosures. When we swim underwater we automatically don't breathe, all Galliformes take dust baths, and it's instinctual for them to do the same.
I was shocked to see mom holding the baby while spreading the DE. It's very bad on the lungs! Please read up on these "natural" products before you use them.
@@clongeye3005 That's right. Diatoms are living organisms with exoskeletons made of silica, so glass basically. And the way d.e. works is basically slicing arthropods to death.
God bless you guys for taking such good care of your animals. My heart goes out to all of you. Here's wishing healthier days for your beautiful birds in 2023! Many thanks for these videos--we learn a ton every time. :)
the diatomaceous earth can be use with dust baths as well. my mother used it to keep mites and bugs off her hens and roosters. also can be used in the home to keep bugs out! i recommend highly for any bug situations since it dried out insects from the inside
My kids were in 4H and they made them bathe the chickens before check-in. They had to pick the nits out if they were present. We learned that straw harbors the lice so wood shavings are a better choice for bedding. Also putting DE in the nesting boxes helps.
Wood shavings in the nesting boxes, and sand on the ground! Best set up I've had. I'm from Georgia, we don't get cold enough to worry about winterizing our birds, and straw in the coops was always a no no because it's hollow and bugs live in it. I just moved to Oklahoma, and when I started asking around how do I keep my birds safe during the winter everyone's answer is straw in the coops. I have always been taught this is a no no. I'm so confused on how to winterize them, but I just don't think I can bring myself to putting straw down. 😬
@@Gee5425I'm no expert in hens or from the US, and this is my first time hearing about "winterizing" hens, but I'm going to put my opinion/suggestions anyway :) if you have just a few hens you could probrably replace the straw daily without it being too time consuming, if you do it daily it shouldnt be able to harbour a bunch of bugs and you would be removing any bugs that do go in it from the coop. You could also look into adding a thicker layer of their existing bedding and other ways to insulate their coop. Heat lamps could also be an option. If you clip their wings be extra sure not to clip the warming feathers. Depending on how cold it gets the hens may be fine anyway because of the layers of feathers that they have. Underneath the top layer of larger feathers of the hens there should be small fluffy feathers that are meant to keep the birds nice and warm (I don't know if they get more of these when they molt near autumn/winter or not.)
@@Gee5425 I used to work at a farm that had chickens and ducks, they only had wood shavings in their shed and a heating lamp. It was open 24/7 even with snow and -15c, most of them decided to be outside in the freezing cold until night time when they decided to go into the shed.
@Umineko heat lamps cause more harm than help, they're also incredibly dangerous. Wood shavings get moldy when wet, which is a horrible thing to have around chicken's respiratory system. Chickens can withstand cold pretty well, they're feathered. It's really their combs and wattles that need to be protected, as they're susceptible to frost bite. The comb helps regulate chicken's body temperature, the larger the comb the better the bird will be able to keep itself cooled during the summer. I lived in the south.... Most of ny birds have rather large combs, because they were combating 100° temperatures for 4-5 months out of the year, and over 80 for another 3 months. That's my bigger worry. I'm aware Chicken's can withstand very cold temperatures, but I'm also aware that chicken's up north are more often seen with a pea-comb or something very small such as that because they're not battling such hot weathers, and have a risk of frost bite during their 4-5 months of cold temps. My concern isn't how to keep them warm, they have down feathers and their internal temps are much higher than our owns. I'm concerned about just getting frost bite, and losing their combs. We have already gotten snow here this year, and though it wasn't much, and didn't last long. I let my chiciens out in it. I just make sure I towel dry them when they're out in the rain, and the temps are dropping into freezing ranges during the night. Chicken's are durable. I'm well aware of that, I'm also aware of the types of chicken's that I have, and that they do run some risks during freezing temps. Just as I give extra ventilation and even a fan for my Wyandottes during summers in the south, because they're built for the cold, and do not handle heat well. They have rose combs, which do much better in the cold, they also have a lot more down feathers, so they stay warmer than my other birds, but my other birds are still birds, they can keep their bodies warm on their own.
@@Gee5425 Was never wet in there and got cleaned frequently, just sharing the experience i had with it, but it's good to know and if i still worked there i'd have recommended them find something else for their chickens :)
When your checking the birds have a look at the feathers themselves as well as the skin. Feather mites can get missed but as a blanket rule id assume all the birds have mites/lice and treat everyone. Also treating the internal parasites will really help your flock!
@@Upper_echelon_exotics well different products treat different stuff. For example hookworms and tape worms dont always get killed by the same products. also theyre talking alot about lice and stuff but might miss a different parasite by mistake. So worth researching everything to ensure all bases are covered.
I’m so glad you’re treating the lice! As far as the white peacock, I’ve read it’s really important to have the broken wing set because their bones heal so quickly, so since it’s already protruding through the wing it really needs to be fixed somehow to heal. I pray you can find another avian vet ASAP! It definitely looks infected poor boy! ❤️
They can't get a vet. Which they should have seen to before purchasing fragile exotic pets. I think this whole situation is negligence. They didn't know how to care for their exotic animal, and now 6 birds are dead, and the remaining one will live its life in pain. All for the greed of owning a rare pet, and internet greed. (I'm sure the peacock videos get far far far more views than chicken videos.) Dead Birds for Fun and Profit.
@@AderynBach42 I agree the whole situation pissed me off. 6 of those birds dead because they didn't know how to care for them and didn't bother to check if there were professionals near them who would help them if something went wrong
@@AderynBach42 agree… it’s the same with Joey as well… for an *Australian shepherd* to have HA is telling ffs But the thing that proper annoys me is in the situation with Joey AND the bird with a fully broken wing is it’s always the other persons fault when they have to scramble to try fix their own lack of knowledge and experience… it also takes them a while to react to situations when there seems to be a problem with an animal/s and then get MORE and treat several animals lives like trial and error rather than trying to do better by proper researching and finding the source to the problem… this whole white peacock saga is the biggest example of this.. how many birds have they damn lost and they will still glaze over it because a WEEK after bringing their last bird home from a vet and sticking it in a wire cage which he openly said “I hope his legs don’t go through the holes” and then blames the vet for an injury that didn’t look very fresh at all… acting like he hasn’t lost every damn white peacock he has hatched in the past few years and then would blame the breeder he got the egg from or say it must’ve been a bad batch… how is it just now they’ve found several birds and almost every single flock they have is teeming with fucking lice! it’s really disappointing… infuriating even.
Definitely try adding that diatomaceous earth into the dust bath this will help get the sand into their feathers and on their skin. This is how my friends keep their chickens pest free, they use plastic litter boxes for sand baths
@@davidsimmons3844 I do rooftop gardening for a living. I try my best not to use any sort of pesticides but it's not a normal environment. DE is effective but short lived.
As soon as you said bugs in the last video, my first thought was DE. Let your wife know it’s not the best to inhale when airborne the way she’s dusting it. Just something to be mindful about while holding the baby especially. I dust our yard every spring/summer when the bugs are the worst. Helps keep things under control along with other precautionary measures.
@White House on the Hill , you asked about suggestions for dust bath in winter. Using a cat "litter box", large size and if it is in an area without shelter, you can use one with a large dome hood. You would need to probably show a few of the chickens how to go inside, once they see they can dust bathe inside, the others should catch on. Hope this helps. So glad you found out the problem. Love watching! ❤
but it would need a lot of them for the amount of chicken no? one by coop could be a ides for that tho. But for the bigger place Why not going with a new wanna be coop style of emplacement but instead of a coop having a Children sandbox in them with a little entry so they gan co in but since it's cover they snow and mug doesn't go as much?
Yes, I thought about that and would be a good long term plan to use either a "kid's" pool (in US they are 6-9 feet diameter and about 12 inches deep made of hard molded plastic) or a kid's play sandbox. But they need something to use now and both the pool and sandbox are "seasonal items that would not be in stock at stores this time of year where they live. Litter boxes can be found in stores year around and many brands have inexpensive ones available. This makes for a quick fix right now since they have an immediate need. But you are right, come spring building a moveable " sandbox style "dusting house" would be a good long term fix!
@@LifePrepared the reason i mention the sandbox and not pool is that some sand box will have a hole at the bottom that could be use to drain water if they get flooded.( since snow and muddy place i figure out that water might be an issue) but some pool also have that too
For a dust bathing area, I use small kiddie pools. Birds love dust bathing together as a social activity so having a kiddie pool lets more than one bird dust bath at a time. I always find 4 dust bathing in ours. I use a mixture of sand, peatmoss and some DE in it. Yellow sulphur powder works well too. I sprinkle it on bottom of coop and nest boxes. Parasites are such a pain. Love watching your videos. God Bless!
I’m not happy that y’all had to experience this but I am glad to see this information getting out there! Two years ago I lost about 60 chickens.. one right after the other. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what was wrong. First, I thought it was a respiratory sickness going around my flock. I never even knew or thought to look for mites and lice. After I lost that many I gave up on having chickens for a year. Then I started back up and the same thing started happening again. Luckily, this time I happened to see the infestation on some of the ones that had passed. So now I know how to treat them and use preventative measures throughout the year. But hopefully this video helps someone in the early stages so they don’t have to experience the kind of loss I did. Thank y’all!!
For dust baths, you can always get a plastic kiddie pool, or one of those plastic sand boxes and fill it up for the birds. Then you can keep it covered or put it in an enclosure so it doesn't get all messed up with rain and snow.
we put a good amount of the DE in the birds dry dust bath ( sand and DE) - this really helps them keep them selves mite free and any eaten will clean out parasites. Putting DE on the floor pen area kills fleas/ticks too, great stuff. Works on the dogs and cats too. like nits treat all the critters. Hope everything turns out well. Sadly we are facing bird flu here in UK, heart breaking.
I think the feet thing is caused by some other parasites. In germany we rub oil or something like that on every chickens feet for some weeks. And for the parasites living at the chickens butt, you should install little "diatomaceous earth" pits where the chickens should learn to bath. But for the first times you should put the powder directly under the wings and the butt area. I hope someone that needs this advice sees this!
The feet thing is caused by a mite, not louse, called Knemidocoptes mutans. Also known as "scaly leg mite. Rubbing oil or petroleum jelly is good way to help soften and get the crusts to fall off. However you need to treat the birds with ivermectin to kill the mites and other parasites.
My chicken got scaly leg mite (I assume from the wild birds) and just using the oil most recommend on her legs didn't really for us sort the issue out properly.. not completely get rid of them. I think the mite must have been breeding on the wood perches so I ended up putting oil onto all the too. I still kept getting issues with that so I say it was a nightmare issue to try to fix.
I'm not sure if you have seen these before, but with my bantam chickens when they have lice we have this lice powder that we put in their wings and rub it into their feathers and it works very well! edit: I've lost many birds to lice or respiratory illnesses and its just so sad how fragile all birds are in general so owning them is very brave having to loose so many :(
Dust your birds with food grade diatomaceous earth. That will kill any kind of infestation. Dust your coop and disinfect the whole thing. Put antibiotic in the water and hope for the best.
The diatomaceous earth is the best because it’s not toxic to people or any other animals. Diatomaceous earth is amazing for just about any bug you have a problem with. I’ve heard it being the only thing to get rid of bed bugs besides steam. But I have no idea if that’s true thankfully I’ve never had that problem… an hopefully NEVER do 😄
@@Weeks25 DE is not safe for humans to just use willy nilly. There are significant respiratory illnesses associated with its use including silicosis. The label is usually clear that a particulate grade mask and gloves must be worn when handling it. This makes me cautious of using it in ag situations as it may affect the animal respiratory systems as well. It is the micro dust in the product that is the problem.
Just a little tip for y'all & anyone else that may read this.... Be careful using diatomaceous earth. It kills bugs that have an exoskeleton by cutting them up, putting little slices in their skeleton which in turn dries then completely out. So it can used for a huge amount of different bugs, including bed bugs. Exterminators will charge people thousands of dollars to remove bed bugs when lots of them use this stuff, which costs less than $10 for a big bag at home Depot or Lowe's. I lived in an apt in Philly a few years back. My elderly neighbor bought a decorative pillow at a flea market. Idk why but here's elderly so I'm sure he didn't think anything of it. Well he got bed bugs & they spread to our apt. I used this stuff & it got rid of all of them within about 3-4 wks. BUT BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL WITH IT. because it slices the bottom of bugs up to dry them out, it does that cuz of the tiny pieces of glass fibers in it. If you breathe it in, it's not healthy at all for your lungs so try to wear a mask when using it. Hope this may help someone.
That stuff is great. I agree be careful. I was in an apartment with bats and the bats I suspect brought the bugs in. It absolutely works. I didn’t know lice can kill birds though! That’s crazy.
Hmm- They obviously know DE slices /desiccates soft tissues on a microscopic level on contact... Bless their hearts but I cannot watch this channel one more moment. N-95's / particulate respirators are sold in hardware stores for a Reason, people! smh
@@lanotakrazii yes that one can be eaten but if breathed in while applying it, it can still do damage to lungs. If it's on food, etc, it would still have to be washed off but def less dangerous than the regular stuff.
Holy cow!! Great work! I do have a few suggestions as someone who has eradicated lice from my flock. Permethrin dips work amazing at getting rid of lice and mites. And ivermectin drops are easy and works for leg mites, lice, and most worms. It’s a great one to get. Unfortunately DE doesn’t work for lice. I’ve tried dusting my birds with it and it literally did nothing to the lice. But boy ivermectin works great and fast. Treat them once and then again in 10 days. You’ll be rid of those nasty lice in 10 days and your birds will feel better.
For our birds we get the larger black cement mixing black bowls and fill it with dust bath ingredients plus some food grade diatomaceous earth and keep it in their run or a covered area so it stays dry all winter and cool in the summer months. It seems to be working great for us. Good luck 🍀
I do this for my chickens too and have never had issue with bugs or mites. This is very important for chickens because it is the only way for them to clean themselves. Similar to Chinchillas.
Funny note, we rescued a Rhode Island Red hen (Henny Penny) and ended up having to bring her inside at night because she had been traumatized by raccoons and opossum (and at night I had many raccoon and opossum). We soon discovered that she preferred to take warm showers! One morning my son took a shower before he took her outside and she jumped into the shower with him! She even enjoyed him drying her off with a hair dryer! A couple of times a week when we would remove the towel from the opening of her "igloo" style dog bed (where she slept at night) she would run straight to the bathroom and stand in the shower! After her shower and blow dry, she went outside to her nesting box, laid a couple of eggs, then spent the rest of the day bossing around all the other outdoor critters. I had a small certified urban wildlife habit. She was one fine hen! Shed had a good life.
I had two things happen to my chickens this year that I hadn't seen in 15+ years of keeping them. The first was a major lice & mite infestation similar to what you're experiencing. The other thing that happened is I lost several chicks to Marek's disease. I hadn't heard of it but it's one of the most common diseases that occur and it's when you introduce unvaccinated chicks to your flock before they can properly develop their immune systems. My chicks hatched here naturally and were not put through the vaccination process that happens to all baby chicks at hatcheries, which prevent this very disease. You guys are good about keeping your chickens separate, but I wanted to share this bit of heartache to hopefully help prevent it in someone else's flock.
And the feed companies aren't keeping proper nutrition for pet birds vs laying or meat. It's more important to manage nutrition than trust commercial feed
Do you vaccinate your chickens? I want to raise mine organically and unvaccinated. When I did my research they recommended the all in and all out methods( when you raise a flock without introducing new birds). If you do introduce new birds you have to keep that bird in quarantine for two weeks to make sure it doesn’t have marek. Marek spreads faster and stronger due to the vaccination and it is a big issue, it just don’t form tumors that kills em in vaccinated chickens. How was your experience in dealing with marek?
For dust bath situation, you could get or build dog houses to use as "bathhouses" to keep the dust dry from the snow. My mom's chickens just have a wooden trough two inches high that they put dust in for them to use. It is in their coop so it is covered.
I treat my flock with ivermectin every 6 months as a preventative. The medicine works on a wide variety of parasites and has a small egg withdrawal period, so it’s not so bad. I just find it’s way easier to do a prophylactic treatment than deal with the nasty issues parasites can bring about.
@@ahhhthomas7211 not sure if you’re in the US, but I get mine from Tractor Supply. I think any vet supply place would have it available over the counter too. I use the cattle drench type. Just 1 drop for small chickens, 2 for large ones, dropped on the back of the neck under the feathers on the skin.
@@willowgreinke7964 it’s the same thing, but different delivery method. The type I use is a pour on, meant to be applied directly to the skin of the animal and absorbed that way. It’s not meant to be used on humans and I’m sure there is other inert ingredients in it other than just the medication.
As someone who had chickens, you'll want to clean out your nesting boxes and dust them as well with DE. I regularly cleaned and sanitized coops, and boxes. I also had a dust bath bin. I used plastic totes for that. You didn't mention if you feed medicated feed to your young birds. I always did.
Thank you guys! Many reasons too.. for helping these birds because most people wouldn't care. Also thanks for keeping me entertained for the past few years!
The only question I have since the wing injury ... What about the pain? What about the risk of infection?? Why having so many birds if they can't be treated/cared for properly? :(
I used the bottom part of an old covered cat box as a dust bath for my chickens. It was deep enough to keep the dirt and DE in. I regularly dusted DE around the pen, coop and nesting boxes and never had an issue with mites or lice. I would suggest wearing a N95 mask when dusting the DE as it is a fine particulate. You might also try adding a little ACV to their water. Hope this solves the mystery.
We had a peachick that broke his wing, we used popsicle sticks and bandages to set the wing properly. Once the bones were in the right place for a folded wing position, we bandaged the wing so he couldn't open it then bandaged it to his body for some extra support. I haven't been following along very closely the last few weeks and I'm only 3 mins in so I'm not entirely sure where the break is, but hopefully this can help someone who may have this issue
The passion and pain in your eyes for these amazing animals you give love , generosity and so much attention to the needs of these beautiful animals is impeccable. Love and Blessings to you all 🙏🏻
I so sorry that yall are having to deal with this but I'm glad yall finally have answers to your questions. As for ideas about dust baths I would suggest maybe kiddy pools with sand and diatomaceous earth mixed in. If you needed a way to keep snow and rain out maybe try a lean-to to cover the pools. Hope you find an idea that works. My 8 year old daughter and I love to watch yalls videos every time they post. Best of luck and keep up the good work. ❤
Very impressive video and informative video. The lice issue seems simple once one knows what it is but I could sense your frustration as you pursued the investigation. I had one American Bresse hen who was sick so I isolated her and fed her, bathed her and gave her heat and she recovered. No one knew what she had wrong and that was for me the biggest frustration. You have a great farm and nice family. God bless!
you guys are my favorite channel! i got some chickens this year and they're so cute! i haven't spent time with them in awhile but my black star chick remembers me! it was awesome when i saw that she didn't run out of my lap. anyways, so sorry about what happened to your peachicks, they were so cute!
Anytime you hatch peachicks it is best to keep them on a wire floor for the first 4 months. I know this isn't ideal for you because then you have to feed, water and worry about heat but it really is the best thing for them. There are so many parasites on the ground and in the soil that peachicks really need to be kept off the ground for those first 4 months.
I'm sorry to hear that y'all are having this problem on the farm. Praying for all of your bird's health. I know this is stressful for you guys, so praying for you all too. It's strange that so many veterinarians won't treat birds, at least to me anyway.
God bless you and your family ten fold. You look so tired but because you love what you do you keep moving forward. Thank you for the education. I never owned more than 4 chicken's and they wore me out. You have such a beautiful family. I look forward to watching you grow. People such as you and your beautiful wife are the backbone of everything decent and moral and kind .
Here where I live, the chicken coops are covered with lime or Lime paint painted to disinfect the stables and to prevent mites, lice. Also, the places where the mobile stables are regularly changed and sprinkled with limescale, as there are no parasites. I grew up around farmers and that is what we did every year, clean the coop and then put up new Lime on. Same goes for the cow stables. Sorry my translation is a little bit wonky, I am German.
With your huge subs you’ve probably already been told this but oregano oil in the water will help prevent and fight off parasitic illnesses. Large chicken farms use it. I was having issues with what I thought was fly strike or some disease that caused maggots by vent. I cleaned them thoroughly, used blu kote, but also used oregano oil like 1 cc per 5 gallons…Please research this as another option. We also provide dust baths with DE
First Saturday lime is good monthly treatment as well! Where I live red mites are a big problem and you can’t typically tell you have them until you see them after they’ve already drawn blood from your birds because they turn red after feeding on them. They hide in the wood usually used in coops in the cracks. It’s good that you showed this because a lot of people don’t know that you should constantly be treating for or shall I say prevention for any parasites because birds are very easily affected by them!
To think I was feeling a bit overwhelmed today with all the chores I had on my to-do list, and then see how much you two had on your plate! I hope all your hard work pays off, and quickly!
Quick tip I learnt from my chickens against mites: Roll a piece of cardboard (10cm on 10cm) and tie it with a string. Put this in the chicken coop and leave it there for a day or two (works best if it is night time) then take it out and burn it to kill the mites inside. The mites will like the cardboard because it's dry warm and dark Love the channel. Hope you can solve the problems of mites!
Your bird husbandry makes me feel proud that I’ve been watching your channel for a few years now. It’s rewarding as I sit here just watching my yard birds come and eat from our feeders. Good luck to you guys always. ❤️
I'm so sorry you lost so many babies, it's so sad. My stepdad uses small kiddie pools for the dustbathes, like the cheap ones you can find at Walmart in the summer, I think they go for bout 10 dollars. He's also used small pond tubs before. I hope this helps.
We have a product called Pestene here in Australia, which is a medicated form of Diatomaceous earth designed for fowl. You can dust the birds with it directly. I also dust the entire coop with it. Putting it where they dustbath is ideal. Creating a couple of indoor dustbaths for your snow season is a must. Just fill an old tub or tyre, or even large plant pot, with sand and dirt, and the chickens will love it. I'd do more than one cos there'll be a queue to use it! Add the pestene (or local equivalent) to it once a week. As someone else here has mentioned, you should ALWAYS wear masks around DE!! It's fine silica, and what it does to insects it will do to your lungs! It will KILL your bees, so be careful. I am extremely worried about your peacock with the broken wing; was that actual BONE sticking out? If so, unless you can get avian vet care, I can't see it surviving. It will die from infection if nothing else! I was surprised to see lice in that wound and not maggots! Birds hide sickness until it's too late remember.
I'm not super sure if the blu-kote will help with the bugs, but I know it's super helpful for injuries. For example, one time a chicken of mine got attacked by a dog and it left a huge gash in it's neck. We weren't sure if she was going to make it, but we applied the blu-kote to it and slowly she healed! And she's still doing really well.
Sorry you have had to go through this experience. After nearly 50 years of rearing poultry including Peafowl Here is a bit of advice for the future. Make sure your broodies are treated for lice before they start sitting. They havent the time to dust bath and preen as they would normally do when they are sitting so lice build up faster. Likewise make sure there are no red mites biting her either. Peafowl and a lot of pheasant species are very susceptible to coccidiosis, starting when they are a few weeks old. It often shows once they have their first real feathers. It kills quickly, one day they have droopy wings the next they are dead. You need to treat for this as a matter of routine. You can add Amprolium to their water or use a medicated feed. The chicks are being reared in a confined space, far different from what they would be in nature and these bugs can build up very quickly so they need to be moved regularly to fresh ground. In bad cases the numbers increase so much it overpowers the hens natural immunity and kills her as well as the youngsters. That break looks like poor handling! My guess. the wing has been held and extended to draw the blood sample, but the birds body wasn't held firmly enough, it has kicked free and in its effort to escape twisted the wing, snapping the humerous in the process I've seen this happen once with a flamingoe . Final note re Diatomaceous earth don't breathe it in It will wreck your lungs because it is so sharp. Since I have started feeding new hatched chicks with a vitamin supplement especially B2 and B12 plus calcium and D3 along with live chopped mealworms (to seed their gut with natural bacteria.) They have thrived much better. Wish you best of luck in the future
We use diatomaceous earth for our farm animals, including our chickens and quail, we sprinkle it on the ground and sprinkle it in their feed as well, and it helps against parasites and mites. We use it as a natural dewormer for all our farm animals and goats. We really don’t measure anything when we sprinkle it on their feed . We even use it for our dogs and cats. That stuff works wonders and the bluekote is amazing stuff too. Hopefully your able to get it all taken care of soon.
Another learning curve for you to go through. Fingers crossed that this all works. I understand now about vets not wanting to take on new birds because of the avian flu. I have heard about Diatomaceous earth on other vlogs to do with chickens. and it seems highly recommended . You need to name the white peacock Hope.
@@whitehouseonthehill any blood sucking insect the eats from an warm blooded animal that ingested that medicine will die. Give it time and keep putting enough in their water. That is what I heard.
You guys are amazing spending the money for your animals to be healthy. Thank the universe that you found out what happened. And thank you for bringing us along on your rollercoaster love yall
My birds had lice one year. Chickens normally control these pests by dust bathing. We added wood ashes to their favorite dust bathing spots to make the bath more effective for controlling lice/mites. I think adding the diatamaceous earth would work even better.
I think one of your kids needs to become an Avian Vet. Watching your son build that stand for the bird to poop down from was quite impressive. I think he is a pretty smart young man.
My uncle treated water and sevendusted and used the diatomaceous earth for about 7 months before he really started to make big headway, what happened is he saw the first drops in lice numbers and eased up on treatments he said he should have never let up until it was gone.
I’m so sorry to hear about your loss, I just watched the video of them hatching so it's very sad to see that they died. I hope you have better luck next time. Just shows everyone how much work goes into keeping birds healthy.
I am so sorry you are dealing with this. We are in winter already (Michigan) and we wrap the chicken coop with plastic. no free range due to our woods and fox. Which causes boredom. I read someone on a FB group talk about blukote when they start to pick on each other. The purple color distracts and this has been a huge help. I go out at night and spray paint them purple on the nesting roosts. As far as DE for winter, use kitty litter boxes. You can burry half of it but they will dust bath in those. Good luck. Still the only channel I don’t miss an episode. ❤
Ivermectin is the only thing to kill them outright, which is what that looks like. You also need to treat the coop with an insecticide. You can by wood preserver with insecticide (for wood worm etc) It’s a case of keeping it under control with DE and cleaning. There is an egg withdrawal with it as it’s not licensed for poultry but some vets will prescribe it off license 👍🏻
Noo! I’m so sorry for ur Pretty beautiful peachicks. :( That is a horrible thing to go through! ❤️❤️ Sending lots of love and high hopes for the peachicks
I have a feeling that when they do find a vet who will see and deal with the peacocks wing they are going to recommend amputation. It is already mostly healed and cannot be used to fly anymore so to give the bird far less pain, greater quality of life, and lessen the chance of that loose wing getting caught and reinjured on something they're gonna operate on it.
Ive also heard of the importance of growing particular plants in pens, yards and near roostimg places etc. Things like mint, rosemary, lavender. I've also heard that feeding the birds the centres of pumpkins, especially the whole seeds, skin on, is important for treating worms. Pharmaceutical worming stuff is said to have been based on the natural chemicals found in pumpkin seed skins. Chickens and probably other birds really need to eat lots of greens. I mean lots n lots. Purslane is great for them. The oil in it are omegas and the plant makes the yolks really dark. Chickens etc also eat meat. They love eating things like mice, crickets, baby snakes etc. They also adore things like lobster, shrimp and crab shells. The more intact and fleshy the better meaning theyll eat the innards, heads etc. And these do not affect egg smells either, that is they dont smell or taste fishy.
Elector PSP is a one and done treatment for mites and lice. It works great and is very easy to use. Sray the birds under their wings and around the vent and at the back of their neck. Also spray their roost bars and in and around their coop. DE helps prevent mites but once you have them they are hard to get rid of with DE. Also if the ground gets wet the DE no longer works. Keep up the good work. It's apparent you love your animals and take excellent care of them. Also clean out your nesting boxes and put clean straw and DE.
RED MITES !!! Definitely have to check your birds regularly for those. Soapy water kills immediately like a flea on a cat. Dry with hairdryer. Different ways to treat with medicated dust baths or Elector PSP.
I use hydrogen peroxide on all open tissue injuries, and Neosporin triple antibiotic (no** pain relief added). Looks like that older scab under the wing could be from from scratching at the mites and then they are attracted to the open wound and got worse over time. Have to put a headlamp on and check all birds at night atleast 1x/month. (When you spray soapy water on the birds use a spray bottle and spread the feathers and aim at skin at the base of the quills and look around the bird and kill every mite, use spray bottle not submerge in water so the birds don’t get too wet and will dry much faster, may need to dry them completely with heat so they don’t get sick)
The scaly mites on the feet or other species may have infested the roosts, so good to look over the roosting bars. You can spray your yard grass or run/coop with permethrin if treating a large area.
I put a little bit of Sevin dust in the dust baths along with DE and powdered clay. The Sevin dust is an insecticide, it’s the only thing that will keep the mites gone permanently. You can treat bedding for the chicks with a little Sevin dust and DE too so the problem never starts (hopefully) out of the incubator (but mites will always find a way, you can hand dust bathe chicks too). Keep an eye on your bantams, mites can overwhelm them pretty quickly, easiest way for them to die. I learned everything the hard way!!
So sorry about the loss again, but glad you were able to figure out what is going on. Thank you for sharing the info. Hoping you can eradicate those nasty little mites. I hate everything flea, lice, or tick related. I hate what they do to pets. And I had the discomfort of getting lice once myself as a kid. It's not a fun experience.
I don't know if it is an old wives tale or not but I have always put ashes from the fireplace in their dustbath areas, I also put DE in them as well. I keep it in there year round and haven't had much of a problem with parasites. Often difficult to control once it gets out of control but once under control easy to keep down. Hope you can get it under control. You might try to build a small box maybe out of 1x2's with a bottom that stays inside the coops to use for a dust bath in the winter. worth a try anyway or even some plastic tubs from the dollar store.
@@catherinekoch3735 yes you soak wood Ashe in water and leave it there to eventually form lye to make soap. Based on my readings If it’s dry it shouldn’t be too much of an issue and it helps the birds.
For dust baths I've used the hooded cat litter boxes and regular cat litter trays. They are a good height for them to get in and out and the hooded ones keep the dust baths dry
They've great durability, as my cats guve them a good scratching daily, and one I've had now for years. Xx Hooded ones are great, but i'm not sure about the height side of things for birds. Xxx But great idea. Xxx Love from Liverpool UK ❣ 🇬🇧
Good job guys stivk with it! We have a few of those plastic kiddie pools/sandpits we use as dust baths for our chickens. Filled with soil and DE. You can usually find them very cheap or even free online.
I have a large metal wash tub that I've put dirt, charcoal, sand, diatomaceous earth and first Saturday lime in. I keep it inside their coop so it stays dry (SE TN, we get a lot of rain) I've only kept chickens a few years now but I've not had any issues yet! Thanks for the video, it was helpful!
For dust baths in the wet/snowy months I use enclosed litter boxes. They didn't want to go in at first, but once I picked a hen up and placed her in it she immediately realized it was bath time. The box having the lid helped keep all the dirt inside the box so it wouldn't need refilled every 5 minutes like an open box would. If you want something larger you could use a large plastic tote and cut out an entrance in the side of it. Same concept as the litter box. You just have to make sure the cut plastic isn't sharp enough to cut their feet. Sanding the cut edges helps, but I use material similar to a pool noodle on mine. I glue the foam on all the cut edges so the birds do not come in contact with any sharp edges when hopping in or out. One other piece of advice that you most likely already know. Do not create dust baths purely out of diatomaceous earth (DE). DE should be in the mix, but it is dangerous if it is 100% of the bath. It is too light and fluffy. Too dusty. The birds can inhale the dust and kill themselves by doing to. Best of luck to you and your family! I am sorry you guys have had to go through the pain of your animals dying and not knowing how to help until it was too late. Thank you for sharing this story with us so we can learn along side you all. ❤️
Just watched 12/4/2022 video. Learning that your last white peacock had three types of worms, two of which are fatal to peacocks blew my mind. You've had some horribly hard lessons about taking care of peacocks this year. Hoping 2023 is much better for those in the White House on the Hill.
My relatives use to use a kiddy pool for the chickens. They kept it big in order to keep access open and fighting to a minimum. I believe they mixed sandy soil to diatomaceous earth in a 2:1 ratio respectively.
We had once a hen who our rooster loved too much, and he "sat" on her so often she got injury of her skin from rooster's claws. The injury was a huge hole in her skin, it looked really bad and had same bugs eating the dead flesh. We just poured some alcool solution inside the hole on regular basis, and then it healed
Probably was maggots from blowflies. They will eat even living flesh until the animal dies from it. Pouring hydrogen peroxide in the hole will cause the maggots to back out. You can then spray bluecote which helps keep additional flies from laying eggs in the area.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
By documenting this you've helped add to wider human knowledge, the suffering your animals experienced hopefully can be averted by others.
I hope so, we definitely learned from it
@@whitehouseonthehill i love your videos even if i don't understand the difficult things but hope the shiny peacock injury heals
Yes I completely agree with you 😊 thank you so much
@@whitehouseonthehill you can sprinkle limestone powder inside and outside of their coop. It helps keep germs away.
@@whitehouseonthehill I have a suggestion. To kill the fleas of my brothers dog I put a bath with blue dawn dishes soap. And soaked it for 15 minutes before that I rubbed some soap on it. U can see them floating in the water. Maybe that helps. You have to I guess cover the beak so they Wong drink the soapy water
3rd year vet student here.
While the spot treatment and powder may help, you guys NEED to treat the structures the animals are living in.
Many bird mites and ticks ONLY feed at night. So it's a problem we run into when we're called out to barns and coops and can't find any parasites on the bird in the day. But this is because these parasites are only active at night and will actually sleep within the structures the birds live in and only crawl onto them at night to feed.
I would inspect any crevices or spaces within those coops you have to check for tiny circular bugs that could be mites or ticks. And these parasites can live months without a blood meal so you have to be on top of your environmental treatment. Spot treatment only works on those parasites that live on your birds. You need to treat the environment or else they will continue to get reinfected.
Also the bugs harming your birds legs and making them crusty and deformed is a mite called Knemidocoptes mutans. You can rub petroleum jelly on your birds legs everyday to help loosen the crusts so they fall off. But you will probably need a vet to give your birds and injection of Ivermectin to treat the ectoparasites they have. Otherwise not all the parasites will die and your birds will still suffer from their parasite burdens.
As for your peachicks, I would research to ensure youe chickens can even be raising the peachicks. Birds have different viruses that affect species differently. Its part of the reason we cannot house Turkeys and Chickens together or even house turkeys on grounds that chickens have previously lived on. You need to look into the vaccinations your chickens should get especially when they're brooding.
Thank you so much for this information. These mites are such a pain to get rid of and worst off all I know it hurts my chickens. If you don’t mind me asking, what would you recommend for treating the structures where the chickens sleep? Thanks again.
Thanks for this info.
Yes, I remember my grandma once told me that back in the day before all the treatments we have now, they used to spray down inside and out all of their coops with kerosene or neem oil and let it dry several days to kill parasites in all the cracks and crevices. she even told me they would do that for bedbugs also including removing the base boards of the room to get behind them.
@@saadiazourafi6348 i had a lice infestation although kerosene was proposed to me. I opted to use boiling seawater, for the added effects of salt. kerosene leaves a nasty smell behind and boiling sea water is relatively cheap. If you don't have access to sea water just put salt with proper ration to your water, 1 gallon should be 1 pound salt.
Yes I agree and sometimes with severe mites, some insecticide is needed. Plus drop of ivermectin on them deals with internal and external
This kind of stuff always happens with poultry. I really wish more people would be better prepared for poultry, and that more vets would take them. So sorry you had to go through this! It’s always tough. Love your videos; they help me out all the time!
Also seems like an issue any vet would have been able to see or suggest. Bird lice feels so much more obvious. Like with dogs or cat they always say maybe it flees.
I had some mites on my hamster when I was a kid, brought in with the bedding, a red bird mite or so and these beests are so aggressive in how they feed, that I lost my hamster and I myself got bitten so many times. These birds must have felt bad before they got the treatment
Thanks
You may want to consider figuring out a way for your chickens and peacocks to have access to dirt where they can take dust baths which also helps controls parasites. Also, diatomaceous earth that is food grade can be added to their food and in their dust baths.
Jake, I used a poultry lice dust. I put the powder in a bag. Place bird inside ( head out) and basically just shake it up and powder your bird. There is also a powder sprayer!! If you have lots of birds this is your best bet be sure to puff your coops!! Roosts, any where they chill. Also the ground and put it where they dist bathe. If you use the sprayer you can literally poof it under wings and by vents, under feathers. Look for mites at night by vent, under wings, around ears and 👀I had to treat EVERY SPRING! 🤦 IT WAS MY 3RD year of chicken keeping when I lost one that I ended up seeing mites on. Mites are smaller than lice!! Both are deadly.
I had similar problems with mites, it was a long struggle until I got rid of them, the best method that worked for me was burning the roosting bars with flames for a short time (if the living space allows such procedure ) every 2 days with regular cleaning and disinfection of the area where they live in addition, in the outer spaces, I provided places for dust baths, where I added a mixture of wood ash with anti-mite powder and since then i have no problems hope you will solve your problems soon...Greetings from Bosnia and Herzegovina!
Dust baths are so vital
Great advice thanks!
What about neem oil it can be sprayed on everything don't know anything about birds but I know it can be sprayed on dogs for fles and lice.
@@Lifeletnothingholdudown oh yeah neem oil works too you can spray it around the coop and even on the chickens as a mite repellent
@@LifeletnothingholdudownI use cedar for fleas, ticks, and mosquitos. Both spray and granules, haven’t had any fleas or ticks in years. Not sure if it’s safe for birds. If it is, I would fog the coops during the day
When we first got chickens we painted any cracks or joins in there coop with a diatomaceous earth and water mixture, then to make a dust bath we used children’s play sand and mixed in diatomaceous earth on a regular basis. My gran has always done this and thankfully never had any problems. Hope you can get this under control and I wish you, your family and all your animals the best. ❣️
But when DT is wet it's worthless. You have two replenish the wet with dry.
@@reeree6682 once it's dried out it's back to being a powder again and works to cover the bugs and dry them out...
I even sprinkle it on my silkies directly and u can add in their food for a natural dewormer diatomaceous earth is everrryyythiiingggg🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
I Googled it and right you are!
@@reeree6682 yes, it is one of the methods of applying DE by mixing with water and spraying it around. It doesn't dissolve in water so once the water evaporates the dry powder remains
2 things about DE.
Wear masks when using it and try not to use it around the kids as it can scar lung and sinus tissue. I still have issues as an adult from using it my pigeon coups.
You can also put it on dust baths for the chickens and quail, I found it worked to keep all internal and external parasites way down.
Also, spray the interior of your cages and coups as the lice and mites will hide in the cracks. There are plenty of organic pest sprays on the market
I thought birds had even more sensitive respiratory systems, does the DE not affect them?
@@TheL12213 The amount you put in the dust bath is minimal. If you notice they spread it on the floors of the coop and other enclosures. When we swim underwater we automatically don't breathe, all Galliformes take dust baths, and it's instinctual for them to do the same.
I was shocked to see mom holding the baby while spreading the DE. It's very bad on the lungs! Please read up on these "natural" products before you use them.
@@cathymarshall8327 @3:55 👀 I thought I was the only one. I've heard it referred to as "microscopic razor blades" or like "breathing shards of glass"
@@clongeye3005 That's right. Diatoms are living organisms with exoskeletons made of silica, so glass basically. And the way d.e. works is basically slicing arthropods to death.
God bless you guys for taking such good care of your animals. My heart goes out to all of you. Here's wishing healthier days for your beautiful birds in 2023! Many thanks for these videos--we learn a ton every time. :)
Yeah
the diatomaceous earth can be use with dust baths as well. my mother used it to keep mites and bugs off her hens and roosters. also can be used in the home to keep bugs out! i recommend highly for any bug situations since it dried out insects from the inside
My kids were in 4H and they made them bathe the chickens before check-in. They had to pick the nits out if they were present. We learned that straw harbors the lice so wood shavings are a better choice for bedding. Also putting DE in the nesting boxes helps.
Wood shavings in the nesting boxes, and sand on the ground! Best set up I've had. I'm from Georgia, we don't get cold enough to worry about winterizing our birds, and straw in the coops was always a no no because it's hollow and bugs live in it. I just moved to Oklahoma, and when I started asking around how do I keep my birds safe during the winter everyone's answer is straw in the coops. I have always been taught this is a no no. I'm so confused on how to winterize them, but I just don't think I can bring myself to putting straw down. 😬
@@Gee5425I'm no expert in hens or from the US, and this is my first time hearing about "winterizing" hens, but I'm going to put my opinion/suggestions anyway :)
if you have just a few hens you could probrably replace the straw daily without it being too time consuming, if you do it daily it shouldnt be able to harbour a bunch of bugs and you would be removing any bugs that do go in it from the coop.
You could also look into adding a thicker layer of their existing bedding and other ways to insulate their coop. Heat lamps could also be an option.
If you clip their wings be extra sure not to clip the warming feathers. Depending on how cold it gets the hens may be fine anyway because of the layers of feathers that they have. Underneath the top layer of larger feathers of the hens there should be small fluffy feathers that are meant to keep the birds nice and warm (I don't know if they get more of these when they molt near autumn/winter or not.)
@@Gee5425 I used to work at a farm that had chickens and ducks, they only had wood shavings in their shed and a heating lamp. It was open 24/7 even with snow and -15c, most of them decided to be outside in the freezing cold until night time when they decided to go into the shed.
@Umineko heat lamps cause more harm than help, they're also incredibly dangerous. Wood shavings get moldy when wet, which is a horrible thing to have around chicken's respiratory system. Chickens can withstand cold pretty well, they're feathered. It's really their combs and wattles that need to be protected, as they're susceptible to frost bite. The comb helps regulate chicken's body temperature, the larger the comb the better the bird will be able to keep itself cooled during the summer. I lived in the south.... Most of ny birds have rather large combs, because they were combating 100° temperatures for 4-5 months out of the year, and over 80 for another 3 months. That's my bigger worry. I'm aware Chicken's can withstand very cold temperatures, but I'm also aware that chicken's up north are more often seen with a pea-comb or something very small such as that because they're not battling such hot weathers, and have a risk of frost bite during their 4-5 months of cold temps. My concern isn't how to keep them warm, they have down feathers and their internal temps are much higher than our owns. I'm concerned about just getting frost bite, and losing their combs. We have already gotten snow here this year, and though it wasn't much, and didn't last long. I let my chiciens out in it. I just make sure I towel dry them when they're out in the rain, and the temps are dropping into freezing ranges during the night. Chicken's are durable. I'm well aware of that, I'm also aware of the types of chicken's that I have, and that they do run some risks during freezing temps. Just as I give extra ventilation and even a fan for my Wyandottes during summers in the south, because they're built for the cold, and do not handle heat well. They have rose combs, which do much better in the cold, they also have a lot more down feathers, so they stay warmer than my other birds, but my other birds are still birds, they can keep their bodies warm on their own.
@@Gee5425 Was never wet in there and got cleaned frequently, just sharing the experience i had with it, but it's good to know and if i still worked there i'd have recommended them find something else for their chickens :)
When your checking the birds have a look at the feathers themselves as well as the skin. Feather mites can get missed but as a blanket rule id assume all the birds have mites/lice and treat everyone. Also treating the internal parasites will really help your flock!
I mean they added stuff to the water. So I think that they did treat all of them. Also the diatomaceous earth.
@@Upper_echelon_exotics well different products treat different stuff. For example hookworms and tape worms dont always get killed by the same products. also theyre talking alot about lice and stuff but might miss a different parasite by mistake. So worth researching everything to ensure all bases are covered.
@@budgiebreder True. I'm glad I don't have birds. Looks like a lot of work. It's already a lot of work to take care of the animals I do have.
I’m so glad you’re treating the lice! As far as the white peacock, I’ve read it’s really important to have the broken wing set because their bones heal so quickly, so since it’s already protruding through the wing it really needs to be fixed somehow to heal. I pray you can find another avian vet ASAP! It definitely looks infected poor boy! ❤️
They can't get a vet. Which they should have seen to before purchasing fragile exotic pets. I think this whole situation is negligence. They didn't know how to care for their exotic animal, and now 6 birds are dead, and the remaining one will live its life in pain. All for the greed of owning a rare pet, and internet greed. (I'm sure the peacock videos get far far far more views than chicken videos.) Dead Birds for Fun and Profit.
@@AderynBach42 I agree the whole situation pissed me off. 6 of those birds dead because they didn't know how to care for them and didn't bother to check if there were professionals near them who would help them if something went wrong
@@AderynBach42 agree… it’s the same with Joey as well… for an *Australian shepherd* to have HA is telling ffs
But the thing that proper annoys me is in the situation with Joey AND the bird with a fully broken wing is it’s always the other persons fault when they have to scramble to try fix their own lack of knowledge and experience… it also takes them a while to react to situations when there seems to be a problem with an animal/s and then get MORE and treat several animals lives like trial and error rather than trying to do better by proper researching and finding the source to the problem… this whole white peacock saga is the biggest example of this.. how many birds have they damn lost and they will still glaze over it because a WEEK after bringing their last bird home from a vet and sticking it in a wire cage which he openly said “I hope his legs don’t go through the holes” and then blames the vet for an injury that didn’t look very fresh at all… acting like he hasn’t lost every damn white peacock he has hatched in the past few years and then would blame the breeder he got the egg from or say it must’ve been a bad batch… how is it just now they’ve found several birds and almost every single flock they have is teeming with fucking lice! it’s really disappointing… infuriating even.
@@AderynBach42 stop being so mean she tried her best to at least say something
@@AderynBach42 stop being mean! they're trying their best and they for sure love their birds and animals!
Definitely try adding that diatomaceous earth into the dust bath this will help get the sand into their feathers and on their skin. This is how my friends keep their chickens pest free, they use plastic litter boxes for sand baths
Diatomaceous earth is my go-to with insect pests in the garden. Keep in mind, it's indiscriminate.
@schmidtwill58 kills most anything with a exoskeleton.
@@davidsimmons3844 I do rooftop gardening for a living. I try my best not to use any sort of pesticides but it's not a normal environment. DE is effective but short lived.
I've tried using lacewings and ladybugs but with limited success.
Same
As soon as you said bugs in the last video, my first thought was DE. Let your wife know it’s not the best to inhale when airborne the way she’s dusting it. Just something to be mindful about while holding the baby especially. I dust our yard every spring/summer when the bugs are the worst. Helps keep things under control along with other precautionary measures.
@White House on the Hill , you asked about suggestions for dust bath in winter. Using a cat "litter box", large size and if it is in an area without shelter, you can use one with a large dome hood. You would need to probably show a few of the chickens how to go inside, once they see they can dust bathe inside, the others should catch on. Hope this helps. So glad you found out the problem. Love watching! ❤
but it would need a lot of them for the amount of chicken no? one by coop could be a ides for that tho. But for the bigger place Why not going with a new wanna be coop style of emplacement but instead of a coop having a Children sandbox in them with a little entry so they gan co in but since it's cover they snow and mug doesn't go as much?
Yes, I thought about that and would be a good long term plan to use either a "kid's" pool (in US they are 6-9 feet diameter and about 12 inches deep made of hard molded plastic) or a kid's play sandbox. But they need something to use now and both the pool and sandbox are "seasonal items that would not be in stock at stores this time of year where they live. Litter boxes can be found in stores year around and many brands have inexpensive ones available. This makes for a quick fix right now since they have an immediate need. But you are right, come spring building a moveable " sandbox style "dusting house" would be a good long term fix!
Concrete mixing tubs are great for dust baths or water for ducks. They are very strong.
Yes! And they are also available year around. Just see what size and cost is the best fit for any of these options. :)
@@LifePrepared the reason i mention the sandbox and not pool is that some sand box will have a hole at the bottom that could be use to drain water if they get flooded.( since snow and muddy place i figure out that water might be an issue) but some pool also have that too
For a dust bathing area, I use small kiddie pools. Birds love dust bathing together as a social activity so having a kiddie pool lets more than one bird dust bath at a time. I always find 4 dust bathing in ours. I use a mixture of sand, peatmoss and some DE in it. Yellow sulphur powder works well too. I sprinkle it on bottom of coop and nest boxes. Parasites are such a pain. Love watching your videos. God Bless!
I’m not happy that y’all had to experience this but I am glad to see this information getting out there! Two years ago I lost about 60 chickens.. one right after the other. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what was wrong. First, I thought it was a respiratory sickness going around my flock. I never even knew or thought to look for mites and lice. After I lost that many I gave up on having chickens for a year. Then I started back up and the same thing started happening again. Luckily, this time I happened to see the infestation on some of the ones that had passed. So now I know how to treat them and use preventative measures throughout the year. But hopefully this video helps someone in the early stages so they don’t have to experience the kind of loss I did. Thank y’all!!
For dust baths, you can always get a plastic kiddie pool, or one of those plastic sand boxes and fill it up for the birds. Then you can keep it covered or put it in an enclosure so it doesn't get all messed up with rain and snow.
we put a good amount of the DE in the birds dry dust bath ( sand and DE) - this really helps them keep them selves mite free and any eaten will clean out parasites. Putting DE on the floor pen area kills fleas/ticks too, great stuff. Works on the dogs and cats too. like nits treat all the critters. Hope everything turns out well. Sadly we are facing bird flu here in UK, heart breaking.
The affection and love you have for your pets, it's great man!!!
Thanks, I appreciate it!
I think the feet thing is caused by some other parasites. In germany we rub oil or something like that on every chickens feet for some weeks. And for the parasites living at the chickens butt, you should install little "diatomaceous earth" pits where the chickens should learn to bath. But for the first times you should put the powder directly under the wings and the butt area. I hope someone that needs this advice sees this!
Yes, that's the best way 👍🏼😊
The feet thing is caused by a mite, not louse, called Knemidocoptes mutans. Also known as "scaly leg mite.
Rubbing oil or petroleum jelly is good way to help soften and get the crusts to fall off. However you need to treat the birds with ivermectin to kill the mites and other parasites.
My chicken got scaly leg mite (I assume from the wild birds) and just using the oil most recommend on her legs didn't really for us sort the issue out properly.. not completely get rid of them. I think the mite must have been breeding on the wood perches so I ended up putting oil onto all the too. I still kept getting issues with that so I say it was a nightmare issue to try to fix.
I'm not sure if you have seen these before, but with my bantam chickens when they have lice we have this lice powder that we put in their wings and rub it into their feathers and it works very well!
edit: I've lost many birds to lice or respiratory illnesses and its just so sad how fragile all birds are in general so owning them is very brave having to loose so many :(
I have bantam chickens too and they might have lice but we don’t know yet
Dust your birds with food grade diatomaceous earth. That will kill any kind of infestation. Dust your coop and disinfect the whole thing. Put antibiotic in the water and hope for the best.
The diatomaceous earth is the best because it’s not toxic to people or any other animals. Diatomaceous earth is amazing for just about any bug you have a problem with. I’ve heard it being the only thing to get rid of bed bugs besides steam. But I have no idea if that’s true thankfully I’ve never had that problem… an hopefully NEVER do 😄
Diatomaceous earth is good if you want something natural.
@@Weeks25 DE is not safe for humans to just use willy nilly. There are significant respiratory illnesses associated with its use including silicosis. The label is usually clear that a particulate grade mask and gloves must be worn when handling it. This makes me cautious of using it in ag situations as it may affect the animal respiratory systems as well. It is the micro dust in the product that is the problem.
This is my 1st year raising chickens, and I am learning so much from you all! Thank you for your channel.
Just a little tip for y'all & anyone else that may read this.... Be careful using diatomaceous earth. It kills bugs that have an exoskeleton by cutting them up, putting little slices in their skeleton which in turn dries then completely out. So it can used for a huge amount of different bugs, including bed bugs. Exterminators will charge people thousands of dollars to remove bed bugs when lots of them use this stuff, which costs less than $10 for a big bag at home Depot or Lowe's. I lived in an apt in Philly a few years back. My elderly neighbor bought a decorative pillow at a flea market. Idk why but here's elderly so I'm sure he didn't think anything of it. Well he got bed bugs & they spread to our apt. I used this stuff & it got rid of all of them within about 3-4 wks. BUT BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL WITH IT. because it slices the bottom of bugs up to dry them out, it does that cuz of the tiny pieces of glass fibers in it. If you breathe it in, it's not healthy at all for your lungs so try to wear a mask when using it. Hope this may help someone.
That stuff is great. I agree be careful. I was in an apartment with bats and the bats I suspect brought the bugs in. It absolutely works. I didn’t know lice can kill birds though! That’s crazy.
🫤what a bugger guys… the price of experience. Thanks for sharing it all to possibly spare others of the same headaches and losses.
Hmm- They obviously know DE slices /desiccates soft tissues on a microscopic level on contact... Bless their hearts but I cannot watch this channel one more moment.
N-95's / particulate respirators are sold in hardware stores for a Reason, people! smh
There is food grade DE that can be eaten so hopefully they are using that one.
@@lanotakrazii yes that one can be eaten but if breathed in while applying it, it can still do damage to lungs. If it's on food, etc, it would still have to be washed off but def less dangerous than the regular stuff.
Holy cow!! Great work! I do have a few suggestions as someone who has eradicated lice from my flock. Permethrin dips work amazing at getting rid of lice and mites. And ivermectin drops are easy and works for leg mites, lice, and most worms. It’s a great one to get. Unfortunately DE doesn’t work for lice. I’ve tried dusting my birds with it and it literally did nothing to the lice. But boy ivermectin works great and fast. Treat them once and then again in 10 days. You’ll be rid of those nasty lice in 10 days and your birds will feel better.
Yep, we've done a couple treatments so far and we'll do more next week.
@@whitehouseonthehill agree with permethrin! Little costly but will clear it out very quickly and efficiently
Finally !! some one that knows what they are talking about. Permethrims and ivermectom are the only way to kill lice not blue coat.
Exactly this ^^^^^
For our birds we get the larger black cement mixing black bowls and fill it with dust bath ingredients plus some food grade diatomaceous earth and keep it in their run or a covered area so it stays dry all winter and cool in the summer months. It seems to be working great for us. Good luck 🍀
I do this for my chickens too and have never had issue with bugs or mites. This is very important for chickens because it is the only way for them to clean themselves. Similar to Chinchillas.
The food grade DE can go in the food directly to help with internal bugs. It has to be reapplied frequently to bedding and the ground.
Funny note, we rescued a Rhode Island Red hen (Henny Penny) and ended up having to bring her inside at night because she had been traumatized by raccoons and opossum (and at night I had many raccoon and opossum). We soon discovered that she preferred to take warm showers! One morning my son took a shower before he took her outside and she jumped into the shower with him! She even enjoyed him drying her off with a hair dryer! A couple of times a week when we would remove the towel from the opening of her "igloo" style dog bed (where she slept at night) she would run straight to the bathroom and stand in the shower! After her shower and blow dry, she went outside to her nesting box, laid a couple of eggs, then spent the rest of the day bossing around all the other outdoor critters. I had a small certified urban wildlife habit. She was one fine hen! Shed had a good life.
I had two things happen to my chickens this year that I hadn't seen in 15+ years of keeping them. The first was a major lice & mite infestation similar to what you're experiencing. The other thing that happened is I lost several chicks to Marek's disease. I hadn't heard of it but it's one of the most common diseases that occur and it's when you introduce unvaccinated chicks to your flock before they can properly develop their immune systems. My chicks hatched here naturally and were not put through the vaccination process that happens to all baby chicks at hatcheries, which prevent this very disease. You guys are good about keeping your chickens separate, but I wanted to share this bit of heartache to hopefully help prevent it in someone else's flock.
Thanks for sharing, sorry for your losses
@@whitehouseonthehill looks like Mite's maybe
I use Diatomaceous Earth and Wood Ash
And the feed companies aren't keeping proper nutrition for pet birds vs laying or meat. It's more important to manage nutrition than trust commercial feed
Do you vaccinate your chickens? I want to raise mine organically and unvaccinated. When I did my research they recommended the all in and all out methods( when you raise a flock without introducing new birds). If you do introduce new birds you have to keep that bird in quarantine for two weeks to make sure it doesn’t have marek. Marek spreads faster and stronger due to the vaccination and it is a big issue, it just don’t form tumors that kills em in vaccinated chickens. How was your experience in dealing with marek?
For dust bath situation, you could get or build dog houses to use as "bathhouses" to keep the dust dry from the snow. My mom's chickens just have a wooden trough two inches high that they put dust in for them to use. It is in their coop so it is covered.
I treat my flock with ivermectin every 6 months as a preventative. The medicine works on a wide variety of parasites and has a small egg withdrawal period, so it’s not so bad. I just find it’s way easier to do a prophylactic treatment than deal with the nasty issues parasites can bring about.
If you don't mind, where do you get your Ivermectin from?
@@ahhhthomas7211 not sure if you’re in the US, but I get mine from Tractor Supply. I think any vet supply place would have it available over the counter too. I use the cattle drench type. Just 1 drop for small chickens, 2 for large ones, dropped on the back of the neck under the feathers on the skin.
Do you Possibly Know…How Different the Ivermectin Used for People/COVID
Is From The A Ivermectin used on Animals? (Big & Small)
@@willowgreinke7964 it’s the same thing, but different delivery method. The type I use is a pour on, meant to be applied directly to the skin of the animal and absorbed that way. It’s not meant to be used on humans and I’m sure there is other inert ingredients in it other than just the medication.
@@denaer
Thank You Mama.
Love the commitment you have to all your animals. Hope they make a fast healthy recovery.
As someone who had chickens, you'll want to clean out your nesting boxes and dust them as well with DE.
I regularly cleaned and sanitized coops, and boxes. I also had a dust bath bin. I used plastic totes for that.
You didn't mention if you feed medicated feed to your young birds. I always did.
So glad you found out about this issue, they couldn’t ask for better owners than your family!
Thank you guys! Many reasons too.. for helping these birds because most people wouldn't care. Also thanks for keeping me entertained for the past few years!
The only question I have since the wing injury ... What about the pain? What about the risk of infection?? Why having so many birds if they can't be treated/cared for properly? :(
bug off!
I used the bottom part of an old covered cat box as a dust bath for my chickens. It was deep enough to keep the dirt and DE in. I regularly dusted DE around the pen, coop and nesting boxes and never had an issue with mites or lice. I would suggest wearing a N95 mask when dusting the DE as it is a fine particulate. You might also try adding a little ACV to their water. Hope this solves the mystery.
What a learning curve… kudos for taking control of the situation and doing the hard work!
We had a peachick that broke his wing, we used popsicle sticks and bandages to set the wing properly. Once the bones were in the right place for a folded wing position, we bandaged the wing so he couldn't open it then bandaged it to his body for some extra support. I haven't been following along very closely the last few weeks and I'm only 3 mins in so I'm not entirely sure where the break is, but hopefully this can help someone who may have this issue
The passion and pain in your eyes for these amazing animals you give love , generosity and so much attention to the needs of these beautiful animals is impeccable. Love and Blessings to you all 🙏🏻
I so sorry that yall are having to deal with this but I'm glad yall finally have answers to your questions. As for ideas about dust baths I would suggest maybe kiddy pools with sand and diatomaceous earth mixed in. If you needed a way to keep snow and rain out maybe try a lean-to to cover the pools. Hope you find an idea that works. My 8 year old daughter and I love to watch yalls videos every time they post. Best of luck and keep up the good work. ❤
I feel so much love and concern for your birds every time I tune into your videos. Soory you lost so mamy. I hope blessings come your way!
The wing on the peacock might have to be amputated, based just on how long it’s been broken and the bone exposed
1-09-2-0
Very impressive video and informative video. The lice issue seems simple once one knows what it is but I could sense your frustration as you pursued the investigation. I had one American Bresse hen who was sick so I isolated her and fed her, bathed her and gave her heat and she recovered. No one knew what she had wrong and that was for me the biggest frustration. You have a great farm and nice family. God bless!
you guys are my favorite channel! i got some chickens this year and they're so cute! i haven't spent time with them in awhile but my black star chick remembers me! it was awesome when i saw that she didn't run out of my lap. anyways, so sorry about what happened to your peachicks, they were so cute!
Anytime you hatch peachicks it is best to keep them on a wire floor for the first 4 months. I know this isn't ideal for you because then you have to feed, water and worry about heat but it really is the best thing for them. There are so many parasites on the ground and in the soil that peachicks really need to be kept off the ground for those first 4 months.
yes. this. peacocks are more susceptible to coccidia and blackhead then chickens are thats why this is important
Such a hard thing to go through. I appreciate you for bringing us along. 🇦🇺
Thanks for watching 😊
Well, it's a relief that you have answers and are sharing them so that other people can learn, too.
Wow. What an ordeal! I’m so glad y’all figured out what happened. I hope your feathered friends lose those nasty freeloading bugs quickly!
Poor birds. So sad that they are hurting. Thank you for helping take care of them.
I'm sorry to hear that y'all are having this problem on the farm. Praying for all of your bird's health. I know this is stressful for you guys, so praying for you all too. It's strange that so many veterinarians won't treat birds, at least to me anyway.
Thank you, Lisa
You know Lisa I thought that too it seems all of a sudden no one wants to know, unless the bird mite are such a problem everywhere.
God bless you and your family ten fold.
You look so tired but because you love what you do you keep moving forward. Thank you for the education.
I never owned more than 4 chicken's and they wore me out.
You have such a beautiful family. I look forward to watching you grow.
People such as you and your beautiful wife are the backbone of everything decent and moral and kind .
We were pretty shocked by so many bugs/lice everywhere. I feel better now that we are treating it.
Here where I live, the chicken coops are covered with lime or Lime paint painted to disinfect the stables and to prevent mites, lice. Also, the places where the mobile stables are regularly changed and sprinkled with limescale, as there are no parasites. I grew up around farmers and that is what we did every year, clean the coop and then put up new Lime on. Same goes for the cow stables. Sorry my translation is a little bit wonky, I am German.
With your huge subs you’ve probably already been told this but oregano oil in the water will help prevent and fight off parasitic illnesses. Large chicken farms use it. I was having issues with what I thought was fly strike or some disease that caused maggots by vent. I cleaned them thoroughly, used blu kote, but also used oregano oil like 1 cc per 5 gallons…Please research this as another option.
We also provide dust baths with DE
First Saturday lime is good monthly treatment as well! Where I live red mites are a big problem and you can’t typically tell you have them until you see them after they’ve already drawn blood from your birds because they turn red after feeding on them. They hide in the wood usually used in coops in the cracks. It’s good that you showed this because a lot of people don’t know that you should constantly be treating for or shall I say prevention for any parasites because birds are very easily affected by them!
To think I was feeling a bit overwhelmed today with all the chores I had on my to-do list, and then see how much you two had on your plate! I hope all your hard work pays off, and quickly!
Quick tip I learnt from my chickens against mites:
Roll a piece of cardboard (10cm on 10cm) and tie it with a string. Put this in the chicken coop and leave it there for a day or two (works best if it is night time) then take it out and burn it to kill the mites inside. The mites will like the cardboard because it's dry warm and dark
Love the channel. Hope you can solve the problems of mites!
But isn't the birds wing also warm dark and dry? Not tryna sound rude but yeah
@@mylovelycookie8194 yes, but we had mites that were not on the chickens the whole time.
But good point. Only the cardboard is to catch those hiding in the grass
@@Singapanzer170 oh makes sense! Thanks for clarifying
@@mylovelycookie8194 my pleasure. Thank for the question
Your bird husbandry makes me feel proud that I’ve been watching your channel for a few years now. It’s rewarding as I sit here just watching my yard birds come and eat from our feeders. Good luck to you guys always. ❤️
I'm so sorry you lost so many babies, it's so sad.
My stepdad uses small kiddie pools for the dustbathes, like the cheap ones you can find at Walmart in the summer, I think they go for bout 10 dollars. He's also used small pond tubs before. I hope this helps.
We have a product called Pestene here in Australia, which is a medicated form of Diatomaceous earth designed for fowl. You can dust the birds with it directly. I also dust the entire coop with it. Putting it where they dustbath is ideal. Creating a couple of indoor dustbaths for your snow season is a must. Just fill an old tub or tyre, or even large plant pot, with sand and dirt, and the chickens will love it. I'd do more than one cos there'll be a queue to use it! Add the pestene (or local equivalent) to it once a week. As someone else here has mentioned, you should ALWAYS wear masks around DE!! It's fine silica, and what it does to insects it will do to your lungs! It will KILL your bees, so be careful.
I am extremely worried about your peacock with the broken wing; was that actual BONE sticking out? If so, unless you can get avian vet care, I can't see it surviving. It will die from infection if nothing else! I was surprised to see lice in that wound and not maggots! Birds hide sickness until it's too late remember.
Im thankful yall were able findout what was causing the problem with the birds. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Millie!
Big cat litter boxes are are great for dust baths. They are nice and big and shallow enough so the birds can get it comfortably!
I'm not super sure if the blu-kote will help with the bugs, but I know it's super helpful for injuries.
For example, one time a chicken of mine got attacked by a dog and it left a huge gash in it's neck. We weren't sure if she was going to make it, but we applied the blu-kote to it and slowly she healed! And she's still doing really well.
Sorry you have had to go through this experience. After nearly 50 years of rearing poultry including Peafowl Here is a bit of advice for the future.
Make sure your broodies are treated for lice before they start sitting. They havent the time to dust bath and preen as they would normally do when they are sitting so lice build up faster. Likewise make sure there are no red mites biting her either.
Peafowl and a lot of pheasant species are very susceptible to coccidiosis, starting when they are a few weeks old. It often shows once they have their first real feathers. It kills quickly, one day they have droopy wings the next they are dead. You need to treat for this as a matter of routine. You can add Amprolium to their water or use a medicated feed.
The chicks are being reared in a confined space, far different from what they would be in nature and these bugs can build up very quickly so they need to be moved regularly to fresh ground. In bad cases the numbers increase so much it overpowers the hens natural immunity and kills her as well as the youngsters.
That break looks like poor handling! My guess. the wing has been held and extended to draw the blood sample, but the birds body wasn't held firmly enough, it has kicked free and in its effort to escape twisted the wing, snapping the humerous in the process I've seen this happen once with a flamingoe .
Final note re Diatomaceous earth don't breathe it in It will wreck your lungs because it is so sharp.
Since I have started feeding new hatched chicks with a vitamin supplement especially B2 and B12 plus calcium and D3 along with live chopped mealworms (to seed their gut with natural bacteria.) They have thrived much better.
Wish you best of luck in the future
We use diatomaceous earth for our farm animals, including our chickens and quail, we sprinkle it on the ground and sprinkle it in their feed as well, and it helps against parasites and mites. We use it as a natural dewormer for all our farm animals and goats.
We really don’t measure anything when we sprinkle it on their feed . We even use it for our dogs and cats. That stuff works wonders and the bluekote is amazing stuff too. Hopefully your able to get it all taken care of soon.
Another learning curve for you to go through. Fingers crossed that this all works. I understand now about vets not wanting to take on new birds because of the avian flu. I have heard about Diatomaceous earth on other vlogs to do with chickens. and it seems highly recommended . You need to name the white peacock Hope.
Ashes from fire work well as a dust bath during the winter. It stays drier and doesn't allow bugs to hide in it like dirt can.
That's true, we have lots of that as well
congratz on discovering the cause and wish you guys the best for more future Peachicks :D
So glad you found a cause and have a plan of action
Thank goodness finally you know what happened to the beautiful pea chicks! Love your videos
Me too!
@@whitehouseonthehill any blood sucking insect the eats from an warm blooded animal that ingested that medicine will die. Give it time and keep putting enough in their water. That is what I heard.
You guys are amazing spending the money for your animals to be healthy. Thank the universe that you found out what happened. And thank you for bringing us along on your rollercoaster love yall
my breeding pair of parakeets and cockatiels died from this and we caught it to late thank god you guys got it early
Thank you so much!
Elector PSP kills lice and eggs!
Thank goodness that problem is over 0:03
My birds had lice one year. Chickens normally control these pests by dust bathing. We added wood ashes to their favorite dust bathing spots to make the bath more effective for controlling lice/mites. I think adding the diatamaceous earth would work even better.
That's horrible! Poor peachicks!
I think one of your kids needs to become an Avian Vet. Watching your son build that stand for the bird to poop down from was quite impressive. I think he is a pretty smart young man.
Im glad you figured out what was happening to your birds.
My uncle treated water and sevendusted and used the diatomaceous earth for about 7 months before he really started to make big headway, what happened is he saw the first drops in lice numbers and eased up on treatments he said he should have never let up until it was gone.
I’m so sorry to hear about your loss, I just watched the video of them hatching so it's very sad to see that they died. I hope you have better luck next time. Just shows everyone how much work goes into keeping birds healthy.
I am so sorry you are dealing with this. We are in winter already (Michigan) and we wrap the chicken coop with plastic. no free range due to our woods and fox. Which causes boredom. I read someone on a FB group talk about blukote when they start to pick on each other. The purple color distracts and this has been a huge help. I go out at night and spray paint them purple on the nesting roosts. As far as DE for winter, use kitty litter boxes. You can burry half of it but they will dust bath in those. Good luck. Still the only channel I don’t miss an episode. ❤
Parasites can be a bummer. I am so glad you guys worked this out and can deal with it. Losing babies that way is so distressing
Ivermectin is the only thing to kill them outright, which is what that looks like. You also need to treat the coop with an insecticide. You can by wood preserver with insecticide (for wood worm etc) It’s a case of keeping it under control with DE and cleaning. There is an egg withdrawal with it as it’s not licensed for poultry but some vets will prescribe it off license 👍🏻
Buy*
That’s not true u can kill them off and even prevent with anis powder and u don’t have to use chemicals on ur animals ☺️☝️
Noo! I’m so sorry for ur Pretty beautiful peachicks. :(
That is a horrible thing to go through! ❤️❤️
Sending lots of love and high hopes for the peachicks
So glad you found an answer. God bless.
I have a feeling that when they do find a vet who will see and deal with the peacocks wing they are going to recommend amputation. It is already mostly healed and cannot be used to fly anymore so to give the bird far less pain, greater quality of life, and lessen the chance of that loose wing getting caught and reinjured on something they're gonna operate on it.
Ive also heard of the importance of growing particular plants in pens, yards and near roostimg places etc. Things like mint, rosemary, lavender. I've also heard that feeding the birds the centres of pumpkins, especially the whole seeds, skin on, is important for treating worms. Pharmaceutical worming stuff is said to have been based on the natural chemicals found in pumpkin seed skins. Chickens and probably other birds really need to eat lots of greens. I mean lots n lots. Purslane is great for them. The oil in it are omegas and the plant makes the yolks really dark. Chickens etc also eat meat. They love eating things like mice, crickets, baby snakes etc. They also adore things like lobster, shrimp and crab shells. The more intact and fleshy the better meaning theyll eat the innards, heads etc. And these do not affect egg smells either, that is they dont smell or taste fishy.
Elector PSP is a one and done treatment for mites and lice. It works great and is very easy to use. Sray the birds under their wings and around the vent and at the back of their neck. Also spray their roost bars and in and around their coop. DE helps prevent mites but once you have them they are hard to get rid of with DE. Also if the ground gets wet the DE no longer works. Keep up the good work. It's apparent you love your animals and take excellent care of them. Also clean out your nesting boxes and put clean straw and DE.
Good tip, thank you
RED MITES !!! Definitely have to check your birds regularly for those. Soapy water kills immediately like a flea on a cat. Dry with hairdryer. Different ways to treat with medicated dust baths or Elector PSP.
I use hydrogen peroxide on all open tissue injuries, and Neosporin triple antibiotic (no** pain relief added). Looks like that older scab under the wing could be from from scratching at the mites and then they are attracted to the open wound and got worse over time. Have to put a headlamp on and check all birds at night atleast 1x/month. (When you spray soapy water on the birds use a spray bottle and spread the feathers and aim at skin at the base of the quills and look around the bird and kill every mite, use spray bottle not submerge in water so the birds don’t get too wet and will dry much faster, may need to dry them completely with heat so they don’t get sick)
The scaly mites on the feet or other species may have infested the roosts, so good to look over the roosting bars. You can spray your yard grass or run/coop with permethrin if treating a large area.
I put a little bit of Sevin dust in the dust baths along with DE and powdered clay. The Sevin dust is an insecticide, it’s the only thing that will keep the mites gone permanently. You can treat bedding for the chicks with a little Sevin dust and DE too so the problem never starts (hopefully) out of the incubator (but mites will always find a way, you can hand dust bathe chicks too). Keep an eye on your bantams, mites can overwhelm them pretty quickly, easiest way for them to die. I learned everything the hard way!!
So sorry about the loss again, but glad you were able to figure out what is going on. Thank you for sharing the info. Hoping you can eradicate those nasty little mites. I hate everything flea, lice, or tick related. I hate what they do to pets. And I had the discomfort of getting lice once myself as a kid. It's not a fun experience.
This video has me scratching my head!! 😄 Glad that you found the problem.
I don't know if it is an old wives tale or not but I have always put ashes from the fireplace in their dustbath areas, I also put DE in them as well. I keep it in there year round and haven't had much of a problem with parasites. Often difficult to control once it gets out of control but once under control easy to keep down. Hope you can get it under control. You might try to build a small box maybe out of 1x2's with a bottom that stays inside the coops to use for a dust bath in the winter. worth a try anyway or even some plastic tubs from the dollar store.
FYI, I learned you can use wood ash to make lye, for use in soap making etc. So wood ash is probably caustic in some ways, alkaline.
@@catherinekoch3735 yes you soak wood Ashe in water and leave it there to eventually form lye to make soap. Based on my readings If it’s dry it shouldn’t be too much of an issue and it helps the birds.
blue coat is used for wounds not lice/mites! use first saturday lime in the coops and pirmithrin on the birds.
For dust baths I've used the hooded cat litter boxes and regular cat litter trays. They are a good height for them to get in and out and the hooded ones keep the dust baths dry
They've great durability, as my cats guve them a good scratching daily, and one I've had now for years. Xx
Hooded ones are great, but i'm not sure about the height side of things for birds. Xxx
But great idea. Xxx
Love from Liverpool UK ❣ 🇬🇧
That is a really good idea, it is very wet where I live, and it takes some effort to keep dry dust baths!
Good job guys stivk with it!
We have a few of those plastic kiddie pools/sandpits we use as dust baths for our chickens. Filled with soil and DE. You can usually find them very cheap or even free online.
I have a large metal wash tub that I've put dirt, charcoal, sand, diatomaceous earth and first Saturday lime in. I keep it inside their coop so it stays dry (SE TN, we get a lot of rain) I've only kept chickens a few years now but I've not had any issues yet! Thanks for the video, it was helpful!
I’m so sorry this happened to you, my daughter and I watched your peachick progress. I’m glad you found the cause and we’re able to help your birds! ❤
Wow! I can’t believe you found out!
For dust baths in the wet/snowy months I use enclosed litter boxes. They didn't want to go in at first, but once I picked a hen up and placed her in it she immediately realized it was bath time. The box having the lid helped keep all the dirt inside the box so it wouldn't need refilled every 5 minutes like an open box would.
If you want something larger you could use a large plastic tote and cut out an entrance in the side of it. Same concept as the litter box. You just have to make sure the cut plastic isn't sharp enough to cut their feet. Sanding the cut edges helps, but I use material similar to a pool noodle on mine. I glue the foam on all the cut edges so the birds do not come in contact with any sharp edges when hopping in or out.
One other piece of advice that you most likely already know. Do not create dust baths purely out of diatomaceous earth (DE). DE should be in the mix, but it is dangerous if it is 100% of the bath. It is too light and fluffy. Too dusty. The birds can inhale the dust and kill themselves by doing to.
Best of luck to you and your family! I am sorry you guys have had to go through the pain of your animals dying and not knowing how to help until it was too late. Thank you for sharing this story with us so we can learn along side you all. ❤️
Thank you for sharing your struggles and the great care you try to provide for your animals.
Just watched 12/4/2022 video. Learning that your last white peacock had three types of worms, two of which are fatal to peacocks blew my mind. You've had some horribly hard lessons about taking care of peacocks this year. Hoping 2023 is much better for those in the White House on the Hill.
My relatives use to use a kiddy pool for the chickens. They kept it big in order to keep access open and fighting to a minimum. I believe they mixed sandy soil to diatomaceous earth in a 2:1 ratio respectively.
We had once a hen who our rooster loved too much, and he "sat" on her so often she got injury of her skin from rooster's claws. The injury was a huge hole in her skin, it looked really bad and had same bugs eating the dead flesh. We just poured some alcool solution inside the hole on regular basis, and then it healed
Probably was maggots from blowflies. They will eat even living flesh until the animal dies from it. Pouring hydrogen peroxide in the hole will cause the maggots to back out. You can then spray bluecote which helps keep additional flies from laying eggs in the area.
@@kaval1er thanks!