[langdon]

please dont get me wrong when you read this,
im not saying i or we are to ignore probs when they pop up.
let me explain: after having some replys of you guys about my chuck beaky with her bare bum and reading up in
books myself it is lice im dealing with.
anyway the books we all read and advice you get on the net tell you you are best to buy this and that and the other to
treat the problem.
as stated above please dont get me wrong, i dont ignore any problems, ive just this moment bought powder to treat
her.
as i was looking to buy this product i was thinking, in the wild where these birds live and other animals there is
no one that goes out and applies any powder or what have you.
the same thing goes for gardening for any of you that are into it, no one goes out with a pair of secutares to
prune! yet these shrubs and other plants thrive by them selves.
just thought i would put this post on and see what your thoughts are.
as said please dont get me wrong, when that powder comes i will be out to beaky like a shot!
in the morning she is going into her own quarters, bless her langdon

[doganjo]

OK, my thoughts are that Beaky would probably fade away and die in the wild without you to care for her.

Shrubs growing in the wild would get overgrown, and die out too, having sent out baby plants previously to keep the species going.

What we do as gardeners/animal husbands is to look after the plants/animals we have to get the best out of them and keep them healthy before their natural end.

Anybody got any other ideas?

[shetlandpaul]

louse/mite powder does work but spot on or any dog flea spot on will kill them off overnight. 3 squirts of the stuff will kill the live ones. next the really unpleasant bit pull the clumps of nits off. burn them. then in a couple of weeks do it again. don't eat the eggs from treated hens for 2 weeks. you need to treat them all. if using cow/sheep spot on 0.2-4 ml will kill of the lice.

don't leave them untreated they will go off lay. can become very sore and will lose condition. then other things get in and your losing hens. a few lice don't really matter but they do effect some worse than others.

you could also provide a dust bath with diatomaceous  earth. clean your coops at the same time but only as normal they only live on them. they usually get them from wild birds and imports into your flock. plan for red mites later on in the year just in case.

[shetlandpaul]

OK, my thoughts are that Beaky would probably fade away and die in the wild without you to care for her.

Shrubs growing in the wild would get overgrown, and die out too, having sent out baby plants previously to keep the species going.

What we do as gardeners/animal husbands is to look after the plants/animals we have to get the best out of them and keep them healthy before their natural end.

Anybody got any other ideas?

agree totally we put money an effort and love into them it would be silly to let nature kill your golden chuck.

[langdon]

never was going to let her die!
i did say to ye guys please dont get me wrong!
i was just thinking out of the box(if that makes sense)
i just wanted to see what people thoughts were, thats all
and i did say didnt i, i will be out there when that powder comes treating my little chuck
langdon

[doganjo]

I knew exactly what you meant Langdon, not sure Paul realised though.  That's why I said that normally sick animals would die in the wild and plants that got overgrown would also eventually die - we smallholders take care of things so they can have a healthy and productive life.

[Womble]

as i was looking to buy this product i was thinking, in the wild where these birds live and other animals there is
no one that goes out and applies any powder or what have you.

Which is where I reckon our girls got their latest bout of lice from - fraternising with the local pheasant population! 

[sagehen]

I think domesticated animals lose the ability or certain knowledge to heal themselves, or they become more susceptible to certain things when they become domesticated - maybe it's a gene thing, or just the compromise of being taken care of by us, like they have to give something away in exchange for the security of being fed and protected, if you get what I mean. It's an evolutionary thing, like the passing on of memory chemically (planarian worm experiment, Thompson and Mcconnell), so something new that the wild mother birds have learnt, will pass on genetically to her yet unborn chicks. Domesticated animals do not need to learn new survival skills to adapt.
Wild birds also have their own place where they dustbathe, and they don't live in a coop where it's warm and damp and great breeding places for parasites.

[langdon]

thank you doganjio (have i spelt that right)
for a moment i was nearly regreting putting this post up there!!
i agree with all, again it was just one of those little thoughts that pop into my mind
every now and again, first i question the thought myself and then i say to myself
i wonder what other people think!!
as said im on top of things when it comes to treating my ladies for what ever reason as they are the whole familys
pride and joy plus the other animals too, esp the kids if they knew that i wasnt taken care of them daddy
would be in trouble!!!!!!!
again thanks for understanding            
langdon

[shetlandpaul]

i know that feeling. wait until you have to eat one of there friends. funny the daughter is nearly a veggie now. she won't touch pork but will bacon, forget lamb she sees them as little day olds. chicken and turkeys are out too. funny really i have the same feelings over the chickens and turks i can kill them a prepare them i just then never want to eat them

[Wizard]

Womble If I had'nt read it twice and seen my mistake I thought Womble's askin for a bash on the beak local peasants indeed but on a second look I see there is a H in it not like the cod There is no f in cod