# would lime harm chickens?



## Milkwitch

Would sprinkling some lime under floor covering(straw/shredded paper) harm chickens? 
we have been doggedly trying to get rid of the leg mites and I was hoping I can sprinkle some lime to disinfect a bit. between cleanings


also would like to ask what would cause hens to loose all the feathers on their belly? I can not find mites or fleas and any kind of buggy looking thing
It has been very hot lately.


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## Cyngbaeld

It won't hurt them.

Add some yellow dusting sulfur to their feed and give them some raw chopped liver or cod liver oil regularly. You need to build their resistance to parasites.


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## Bearfootfarm

> Would sprinkling some lime under floor covering(straw/shredded paper) harm chickens?


Make sure to use AG or pelletized Lime (Calcium Carbonate)

Do NOT use Hydrated or Slaked Lime (Calcium Hydroxide)
Hydrated Lime is caustic when wet


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## BackfourtyMI.

Good Question Milkwitch, I was going to ask the same question the other day. I use Agricultural lime on the barn floor for smell, etc. & was wondering if I could use it in the duck house for the same reason.


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## Joshie

We always put barn lime under chicken bedding. We do it for smell but haven't had any problems with little creepy crawlies either.


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## Guest

Hens will pull their own breast feathers out to line a nest with, when they go broody.


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## chickenista

The leg mites live on your roosts and in your nest boxes, not on your floors...at least not much.
At night go out and paint the birds legs with mineral oil or vegetable oil or vaseline. Or spray their legs with Happy Jack (mixed per directions) In the day time oil their roosts and nest boxes or spreay with Happy Jack.. you will see those mites running from all the cracks and crevices. Spray or oil until there is no more running around. Do it again the next day/night. Then in 5 days and then in 10 and then in 10 more to be sure.


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## Milkwitch

chickenista said:


> At night go out and paint the birds legs with mineral oil or vegetable oil or vaseline. .


Hahahahaa! We have been doing chicken pedicures! we soak the hens feet and legs in warm soapy water with a dash of iodine, brush with an old baby hair brush and homemade soap! pat dry then grease up legs with vaseline with a little mentholatem. They are all mad at first but they really love having their feet soaked in warm water! Even the old roosters gets all dreamy eyed! I think it is funny, a lot of work but their legs are clearing up! 
I don't know what Happy Jack is, we sprayed every roost and nest with diluted bleach water then rinsed everything down. 
we have a gang of bachelor roosters and they are rapist too!!! they all have warn the feathers off a few of the hens. when I catch them they will be soup! 
ahhh the little chicken dramas!


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## Milkwitch

ps What IS Happy Jack?


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## chickenista

You can get it at TSC and other places. It is a mange treatment.. pyrmethrin or pyrethrin or something based. It kills little tiny crawly things and it is much easier to just run through at night, lift a bird and give the legs a spritz from a spray bottle adn set them back down.
We have about 100 birds though and would be up ALL night if we gave each one a scrub.
The mites come in from songbirds and the like.


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## Karen in Alabam

chickenista said:


> The leg mites live on your roosts and in your nest boxes, not on your floors...at least not much.
> At night go out and paint the birds legs with mineral oil or vegetable oil or vaseline. Or spray their legs with Happy Jack (mixed per directions) In the day time oil their roosts and nest boxes or spreay with Happy Jack.. you will see those mites running from all the cracks and crevices. Spray or oil until there is no more running around. Do it again the next day/night. Then in 5 days and then in 10 and then in 10 more to be sure.


I use diatomaceous earth amorphous, for creepy crawlies. I got it to get rid of the flies, I hate flies, and it took a little while and it works great. I feed it to them too as well as the dogs and cats.

*you mention spraying their feet with vegetable oil, Can I use Pam?* That is the easiest spray oil I can think of. 

I am new to the chicken stuff (just since March), don't know if they have a problem with mites, but would like to prevent if can.

Thanks

karen


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## Bearfootfarm

> ps What IS Happy Jack?


"Happy Jack" is a brand name for a line of pet medications/flea treatments

http://www.happyjackinc.com/


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## chickenista

I wouldn't use Pam.. but you put some vegetable oil or mineral oil into a spray bottle.
Remember to reapply to stop the new hatches of mites. Do it several time to be sure.


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