Farm Update: Favorite Silkie Chicken Pepper Dealing with Mites!

So my beloved silkie Pepper is sick with mites. She's been inside under special treatment for over a week. Apparently silkies are prone to mites, similar to lice and deadly if untreated due to their super puffy demeanor. John noticed she wasn't active one day and she's been inside since. She's only drinking when I hold her and make her do so, and she's only had the revive honey mixture because it's the only thing she'll go for.

We got the pesticide to kill the mites as I've tried all sorts of things from VetRx treatment to bathing her to essential oil blends. Not interesting in letting my favorite chicken die we got the pesticides that smell nothing short of utterly horrible. Our theory is that it smells so bad the mites can't stay around.

With the help of some advice from a silkie owner I've been doing what I can to keep her drinking and at least taking in honey. The pollen is actually a bit of a multivitamin and is probably keeping her at the stagnant state she is.

Last night we got her some multivitamins for babies without iron (iron is hard on the liver for chickens) from Walmart as per the advice of my silkie owning friend. I made her take it directly and put it in her water too which she's been slightly more interested in the last few days.

Today after giving her some water and honey I noticed it seemed like she was looking for something when I put her back in her cage. I realized she was trying to get out to get to me, even nuzzling the door with her head to show she wanted more love. Despite being behind on the day I took her out and just sat there awhile with her on my lap and she seemed to sleep pretty soundly during that time.

Taking care of Pepper, the bird in these photos, as well as the other birds I'll share more about soon reminds me of the days where I dreamed of being a veterinarian. Now in many ways I've become one of sorts and while I'm not happy I've got sick birds I am happy that the majority of them seem to be improving.

That being said I'm still seriously behind on everything and it's for that reason that I missed things like the mite problem with this silkie for so long or really any of the other problems that my other birds are having.