Beginning of July, we planned a little trip to Germany to visit friends and family and our neighbours were so kind to look after our chickens and scavage any eggs that might have been laid in our absence. Of course more importantly, we were quite worried about our chicks as well, so we definitely appreciated someone looking after them. And even though they started going into the coop before we left, we felt relieved that our neighbours decided to come pretty much daily to check that everything's alright.
But as you can imagine by the title of this entry... not everything was alright. In fact... the problems started the day we left, though we didn't quite realise it yet until a week after we were back.
May the oddities begin
We started noticing that the chickens actually did not return into the chicken coop the night after we left. We have security cameras installed outside the coop and of course inside the coop as well, so we can check on them regularly.
In the end, we decided there was not much we can do, but hope that they won't be attacked whilst we are away. Though our neighbours were so kind to check on them and pointed out that they put them inside through the window. We did not notice that when they said that they put all of them in, that one was missing already.
Over the week the chickens started to go inside less and less and it was very frustrating.
However, it was the July heatwave, we had about 36°C for an extended period which is very unusual for our area, and of course the coop does not have quite as much foliage covering it as we would hope. So we simply assumed it was also to hot in the coop.
When we got back, not thinking much about it, we aired the coop out (after all, it has a window) and then I tried to put the chickens back inside. For a few days that worked but then the started getting very difficult. That's when we also noticed that one chick was missing. Strangely we didn't find any remains. We assumed it may have gone under the coop and hide, as the others did before. But when we cleared and cleaned the cage, we didn't find anything. No dead chick, no feathers, no bones, nothing. It just vanished. Assumption was that a cat got it. It wouldn't have been a fox, it would have caused havoc in the coop. Or it found a hole somewhere and escaped (after all, it was tiny, it probably would have found an escape route eventually).
More losses
Now it started to get weird as the chickens - as we saw on camera - started huffing and puffing in the coop, particularly the rooster. We didn't think much of it, as it look like he tried to get on the roosting bar. But the next morning we were in for a surprise. Two of the chicks were dead. One was clearly attacked, the other one seemed unharmed, but both were covered in little red dots that were moving around.
We still had no clue what happened, but our working theory is, that the chickens got very agitated about the mites and started attacking a chick that was covered in them and the other one was just collateral. Whilst the rooster was attacking one chick it might have accidentally jumped on the other. As I said, one was clearly attacked, the other one looked unharmed. It was also rather odd as the rooster was very protective of the chicks, when his chicken ladies started pestering the chicks, he was in very quickly to tell them off. So he wouldn't have attacked them out of aggression. It would also generally be out of character to have him attack anything. He tried to attack me only ones because I tried to cuddle with a hen and I was clearly chasing them a bit too much in the coop. Otherwise he never bothered me and always kept his distance from us.
Unfortunately that meant, we were down to two chicks now and it turned out that the "auto-sex" feature of this breed of chickens is unfortunately not as reliable as people (or the internet) make you believe. We compared notes, we asked AI, analysed photos and decided they were all hens. Well... turns out that of the two remaining chicks, one is definitely a cockerel.
How to get rid of red mites?
Well, we seem to struggle with this information a little. But from what we gathered is, that they are basically always there. If there are little corners and gaps somewhere in the chicken coop, they will be there. The question is how much they multiply and it seems the heatwave was a perfect breeding season for the mites.
We basically followed all the instructions we could find; that means we completely cleared out the coop altogether. Instead of putting everything on the compost, everything went straight into a plastic bag and into the waste bin. After this we disinfected the coop, warm water and wash-up liquid, a bit of disinfectant spray and we completely covered the coop in a thick layer of diatomaceous earth. Particularly the last step seems to help drying out the mites. I also sprayed one of the natural anti-bug spray (the one with Geranium extract in it, smells lovely, no clue if it works) to get them out of their hiding place.
In addition I got a supplement for the chicken water supply. I understand it's a natural extract as well and when the chickens drink the water, this basically "sours" the chickens' blood that in return affects the mites.
We've also avoided to refill the coop with hay as we're still expecting quite a few mites being around. One problem with the diatomaceous earth is, that it can't be used to lace the ceiling with it (you know... gravity and stuff) and we assume that's were many mites actually spend their time just waiting for the night to drop off the ceiling.
Whatever we did, at the moment it seems to work, the chickens and the chicks happily go back into the chicken coop (by their own accord) and seem to get a well rested night. So far no hay has been added to the coop yet, as another heatwave is expected next week.