This is my last day of freedom basically, as tomorrow I start my new job. First thing, I pondered how I would spend my day, and apart from my hen Margot not being well, and needing to be hand fed, I thought I would need to enjoy my last day at home. Nine months is a long time, and it has been one saga after another, and one crisis after another, so Tough is the only description for it.
So this morning I went out to attempt to get Margot to eat, and there was very little interest. I suddenly felt I was really crawling with crawling things, and took off the shirt I had on, and I had a sweater on under that, and turned back one sleeve, and I was crawling with some sort of mite. I put Margot back in the nest box, and I decided that I would make an effort to clean out the chicken palace, and give it a good scrub. I even found a bathroom cleaner that had added bleach, which my husband no longer allows, due to the septic tank: so that got used spraying walls and floors and roosts.. and water and lots of scrubbing, plenty of elbow grease went into that. I had the lid of the nesting boxes open, and the front door.. for air to go through and dry everything up again.. there was sunshine and a breeze which was perfect.
I had moved Margot to the mini run on a towel before the scrubbing started, so I tried to get her to eat, but no interest truly, then I realised I had things crawling on my hands again.. I checked her and she is truly infested with some sort of mite.. and for lack of any better ideas coming to me, I brought her into the house, and filled the washing up bowl with warm water and washing up liquid.. and washed her.. and the water was full of these mites. I just kept emptying it, and doing it again and again.. endlessly. Then when I thought I got them all, I took her through to the lounge, and tried to dry her with a hair drier, then moved her up to the bath tub, wrapped in a towel, and she seemed comfortable.
The rest of my day, was checking on her, and seeing signs of mite life, and she got bathed again and again, and so it went on four times in all. I discovered that the mites moved to her head.. and I was protecting that.. but even that got soaped up. She is now keener to eat, and even gave her water with honey, also water with electrolytes so she seems more settled.
I did check the rooster and the four hens, and they were all clean, and also one of the four chicks is also free of mites. I conclude that Margot is the only hen that had an infestation.
During the day, emails went back and forth with my husband, and since it was a civic holiday in Canada today, and yes he was working at his workplace: it was down to him to find something to dust in the chicken house when he got home, so that we could put down fresh bedding for the chickens.
I still have Margot on a towel in our bath tub, and she has had some of the powder put on her too, as they suggest putting the powder in their dust baths, so I knew it was not dangerous to do that.
About to have our evening meal, and will see what the end of the day brings. Suffice to say, tomorrow I am back to work, and am planning on being suited and booted and be on top form.
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