[valr]

Hi all 
I have 2 pekins and 2 plymouth rock banties and 1 sussex bantie. I have had the pekins for 3 weeks and the others for 2. They get along fine. 
So far only the lavender pekin (Janice) and Sheila the plymouth rock and Attila the Hen (the sussex) have been laying. Joyce the black pekin and Helen the other plymouth have not laid to date - or have they?
We got 4 eggs today for the first time. Judging by the size it was laid by one of the pekins. Half of it was covered in blood! It was weird - like a line had been drawn around the circumference of the egg - half normal, half bloody.
I grabbed each of them tonight and examined their vents - all looked ok to me - no blood - but Sheila's was a bit different looking to the others - how to put this without sounding gross   - hers was kind of MOVING - like I imagine your sphincter would if you were suddenly given a great fright!  It was WINKING at me I swear.    She was pretty freaked out so I had to let her go without further probing. I have heard chickens get prolapses - was this one or was she just terrified?! Also before I let her go I noticed a wee creamy white beastie scuttling across at the root of a feather - fast as a flea in a hurry. Is that what they call red mite or are they RED? (If not why call it red mite?) In any event what do I do about it?
I am now scrathcing like I do when my son gets nits. As he does - frequently. 
Anyway, to get back to the mystery of the bloody egg ....
Janice the lavender pekin was not herself yesterday. She spent most of it going back and forwards to the nest box. I kept turfing her out. She didnt lay yesterday. Today she wants to sit there all the time. Is she broody or is she sore because she had an egg stuck and has laid two today? I turfed her out the nest 3 times tonight and the third time she set up an awful racket so I let her back in, largely for the sake of my next door neighbour who has a new born baby. (Born last night. Bet HER vent is sore.).
The others are wandering the garden happily enough.
SO .... what do you folks reckon about the bloody egg, the flea thing, the twitchy vent and the nesting!
Thank you. 

[doganjo]

Bloody egg happens occasionally if they have problems passing, the white things sound like mites, you can get powder to put on them and in their nest boxes and coops, I use Diatomaceous Earth every week to keep little bugs like that under control.  The twitchy vent is just nerves , and I think you have a broody hen.  If you don't want any eggs hatched (I know you don't have a cockerel but you can get fertile eggs) then just keep moving her on and she'll give up.  Or leave her be but don't expect any eggs from her for a bit.

It's all good fun!   Aren't the eggs delicious though - makes it all worth while.
PS I now have a new doorbell, a working toilet, and half my soffits and eaves painted thanks to your family - oh, and a few plants from Janice too!

[Rosemary]

I'd agree with everything Annie says.

[valr]

Thanks Anne and Rosemary.
Stupid question Anne but what do I do with the earth? And where can I buy it? Local shop sells louse powder and red mite powder and internal parasite pellets - will they do?
Glad your house renovations are coming along!
val

[doganjo]

The only stupid question is teh one that isn't asked!

I got my diatom on line - just googled it.  But lice powder is fine so long as you can catch your hens and put it on them, and worming them every so often is a good idea too, especially if they are in a static run. 

Chris is here undercoating in the rain!  But Rio had a good run with my Bobby a few minutes ago!  Just need to find teh money to pay them now 

[valr]

He takes his dog to work!? Rio is hyper 

Can you not get a liquid to squirt on the back of their necks like you do to dogs and cats for fleas, like frontline? I imagine it will be hard to apply the powder properly ....
Janice is still on the nest BTW ....  I was trying to tell HUMAN Janice about it and the bloody egg etc and she told me to stop! Bit squeamish that way.   She would never make a 

[shetlandpaul]

yes you can but then you can't eat the eggs for either a week or two dwpending on what it is.

[doganjo]

OK, will wind her up about that!
I told Christ to take Rio here, his Dad had him yesterday.  I don't mind - they ahd a good run in the front garden and went into the burn as well.

Just use the Diatom in your chicken shed, and puff the lice powder all over them - under wings, around vent etc.

[valr]

Thanks- can you still eat the eggs if you use the powder?
What is the liquid stuff called?
"just puff",  Anne    I doubt it will be as simple as that! haha
Will let you know how I get on

[valr]

OK, will wind her up about that!

Tell her lots of stories about dead mice, birds, frogs, whatever your animals have killed and eaten. She particularly loves stuff like that ...   Especially if they came in the HOUSE!

[doganjo]

Ooh, I've got a SUPER one about Rio bringing a young rat in while I was on the phone.  I thought it was dead till he let it go and it toured my kitchen a few times while he played with it.  Then he caught it properly and devoured it in front of my eyes - down to the end of its long tail, except for the guts.

And another one about him bringing in a huge rabbit and lying over the top of it growling at the dogs - who of course wanted to retrieve it.  That one WAS dead though and still in one piece, so I peeled it, cured the skin to wrap round a dummy for training purposes, and cooked the rest of it for him and the dogs dinner.

Oh and then there was....................

I wouldn't use Frontline on my hens(liquid stuff fro beasties) - dose has to be too accurate and I'm a bit clumsy! And you can't eat the eggs for a while after

Must go and vote!

[little blue]

so I let her back in, largely for the sake of my next door neighbour who has a new born baby. (Born last night. Bet HER vent is sore.).

                 

[spitfire]

Hi
we tried the front line stuff from the vet last year and it made no difference at all to the mites. I agree the best way we've found so far is to use the Diatom earth powder as a dust bath regularily. they can also eat it to help internal parasites but my hubby reported the eggs tasted fishy so I stopped that pretty quickly. the DM earth is a light powder bought by the tubfull and can be sprinkled everywhere, bedding, nest boxes and on them and doens't harm them- it dehydrates the eggs and mites and helps keep them free of pests.
good luck

[doganjo]

I think your husband has a vivid imagination, spitfire!   Diatom is the shells and skeletons of tiny tiny sea creatures - if he knows that then his imagination is telling him their long dead sea bodies transferred their fishy taste through the hens bodies and into the eggs.   If he didn't already know that, then he is bound to say 'I told you so'    I've never tasted any fishiness in my eggs.

[valr]

I bought louse powder tonight! (Shop didnt sell diatom)
Let the battle commence..