Tuesday, July 26, 2011

better days :-)

Well, we survived last week's red mite nightmare, coop relocations, flock integrations, chook rehomings and a massive heat wave + a mini-hurricane, so I guess we can survive just about anything!

I now have only two flocks - the sleeping quarters are a bit tight but they're at least dry and bug-free so the birds will just have to endure. They are outside all day anyways, it's not so bad.

24 birds in one coop, 30 in the other - and that's it.

No more for a long time, my flocks are closed.

Every day I inspect for mites and so far so good, only had about two dozen under one sleeping plank a couple days ago, I squashed them then sprayed with permethrin so hoping I got them all. They were probably left-over eggs that hatched and had a first feeding, hah! Dead now. Fuckers.

Lovely breeze out today - can't wait to let the big girls free-range again...

Does anyone know how long it takes to reprogram a chicken's GPS?

I don't want them to wander around lost at bed-time since the coop where they used to live has been locked up and condemned... I want them to head to their new coop.

Guess we'll have to test it at some point...

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I have always read that it is 4 full days to reprogram their GPS, but I am a newbie at this. Good luck and so happy things are looking up for you.

prin said...

Did the mites come from the newbies? Do you have to quarantine them for a while before adding them in?

Technodoll said...

red mites comes from wild birds, namely sparrows and crows, they hitch rides on mice and other wildlife... super disgusting. they don't live on the birds, they just feed on them at night like vampires and then go hide in the cracks and crevices of the coop. very hard to get rid of, if not impossible.

Debby@Just Breathe said...

So sorry about the red mites. Hopefully they are all dead now!!
Hope your chicken's reprogram quickly. Enjoy your breeze.