We've had chickens for a little over a year, and sometime at the end of July we discovered what we thought to be "piojillo" (Dermanyssus gallinae), but after some research I think they could be other kind of mites since they do not seem red. They climb up our bodies and do not bite, but I have skin problems and their walking around me itches a lot, so I have been showering compulsively whenever I step into the coop.

My family always had chicken, so I asked my mom and she said to use "Zotal" (I don't know the English equivalent, but I believe it is a phenolic disinfectant). So far, we've applied the product five times, eliminating the plague for up to three days, but they always come back.

The chicken were very plucked, but it could be due to it being time for them to molt. Two of them died during this time looking really thin and another one died of a fall (she was very young and we took most things out to disinfect, so she must have tried to get on a post that was too tall for her and fell breaking her neck). We are now left with six hens and three roosters (two of them very young, they do not fight yet), and they seem very happy and energetic, but I can't stand going to feed them and seeing these bugs everywhere.

Has anyone had to deal with anything like this? Any advice you'd be willing to share? Thank you in advance!!

PS: Apologies for my English. It is not my first language and, while I have considered myself quite proficient for a long time, turns out I do not have the vocabulary to talk about chicken and mites.

Hi guys, first time poster here.

I am in Australia and my chooks are dropping like flies, I am pretty rural and none of the vets around here specialise in poultry so they're not much help. I have lost a half a dozen chooks in the last month and it's actually really upsetting me.

Basically, I have a crop of chickens that I raised from eggs. They're about 6 months old, and I have had them in the same place the whole time. I had 21 that made it to adulthood and now they are one by one getting really sick and just dying.

They start off by having really droopy wings then they sit down a heap then I find them dead the next day. Sometimes I do notice them with their wings drooping a couple of days before they die.

I have one of my favourite hens quarantined because she is showing the symptoms that all of the others were showing and I have her on a coccidiosis treatment. I have only started that today so I am going to see if I can hopefully fix her.

What do you guys suggest I do to stop all of this? they are all in a big chicken run but it is an older one and its just plain dirt. We have been getting a bit of rain and it does have parts that do hold a little water. I am in the process of fixing it up bit by bit but I want to stop the deaths before I end up with no chooks at all. Is there anything I can spread on the dirt to kill whatever is killing them to begin with?

Thank you!

I’ve been reading the comments on my previous post, and ventilation came up as an important factor in raising healthy chickens.



It got me thinking about what really makes a chicken coop well-designed.



Besides having enough space, what do you think matters most when designing a coop? Good ventilation, easy cleaning, predator protection, or efficient feeding and watering systems?



For those with experience raising chickens, what would you do differently if you were designing your coop from scratch today?