Two things have me scratching my head...blog stats and lice.
My page hits have taken a dive...even with the risque titles.
Like a massive reduction...I really do think Blogger
was playing with the stats somehow.
And lice....as a teacher I was often surrounded by short people
who liked to host lice parties on their heads.
It still makes me itch...just thinking about it.
Now I have to deal with the problem of lice
on my feathered children.
I did find some creepy crawlies around
Vera's cloaca the other day so action was required.
I cleaned out the coop, scrubbed the nest boxes
with soap and water and liberally sprinkled
sulphur around the edges of the coops.
I also made sure the crevices in the nest boxes
and perches had a good dose of sulphur.
Fresh nesting material
was installed.
Once before I actually bathed the chickens...if you don't believe me check out my post, Lousy chooks! Wet chickens look absurd. However, the weather is too cold for this at the moment. But I will have to treat the chooks too...I will tell you about this in a later post.
Now,
stop scratching
and leave a comment!
I teach school and the mere mention of lice gives me the itchies! Hope your cleaning job got rid of those little buggers.
ReplyDeleteOkay, Okay....
ReplyDeleteHave never checked my chooks for lice...mmmm
Check my childrens hair though on occasion....
As for blog stats, never hardly look...not sure if many people read my blog...except my regular commenters...maybe I am just blogging to no one?
Never thought of chooks getting lice. Can they get fleas as well?
ReplyDeleteMaybe dust baths would work? Mine like to dig in the dirt, then roll around in it. I heard somewhere that it flushes out the buggies.
ReplyDeleteI'm an early childhood teacher and the thought of livestock in the hair, gives me the heeby jeebies. I've been told by a chook master, that they get infested by lice from mixing with wild birds. If they are kept away from them and are housed in bird proof areas then they don't get them. But of course when you are free ranging chokes that's impossible.
ReplyDeleteDeb
Ok thats a "Lousy" post just kidding but it did make me scratch last year i was working fulltime at the playschool and nearly every week I was bringing more than a paycheck home.
ReplyDeleteHi Hazel, I have two anitlice strategies. One is moving the chooks fairly regularly so they don't stay on the same ground all the time. It breaks the cycle of many parasites, including lice and worms. The other, all winter I give the chooks the ash from our wood stove to dust bath in. They love it and they never seem to get lice.
ReplyDeleteAbout statistics, I think they just go beserk every so often, for no good reason. For myself, my attitude is to only pay attention to long term averages, not blips and bumps. I do think writing stuff that no-one reads is a bit of a waste of 0 and 1 storage space. But jumping every time the hits go up or down would stop me being able to write anything true at all, and anyway, I don't think it's that accurate or sensitive. I love your blog!
Hazel, if you have lice there is no way I am sharing a room with you at Daffodil's.
ReplyDeleteinteresting blog. It would be great if you can provide more details about it. Thanks you
ReplyDeletejust linked this article on my facebook account. it’s a very interesting article for all.
Potted Plants
Oh Hazel, you will heave to leave your chicken lice at home.
ReplyDeleteI dunked our chickens on one warmish day in Autumn for lice and I don´t think I have been forgiven yet. I would not like to have to dunk you as well!
..as for stats? Pft! My most read post is a silly little one with a couple of cartoons about trolls.
ReplyDeleteNot one of my finer literary forays.
Hazel, I can't comment on anything to do with chickens, but I can in relation to the Blogger stats. Mine "went through the roof" for a period of about 10 days, with figures about 3 times the normal, but two days ago they went back down again. I also use Google Analytics, and their figures were not similarly affected. I conclude that Blogger was experiencing another of its (many) problems, and that they have finally sorted out whatever was wrong.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean re the lice. That mug: "Old teachers never die they just lose their class" should read "Old teachers never die they just keep picking off lice." Cheers from another old school marm.
ReplyDeleteI'm itching now - thanks.
ReplyDeleteThe first time my eldest came home with lice I didn't have a clue what they were - initially thought they were flying ants - until my sister set me straight. Thank goodness (touch wood) we've passed that stage of life.
Our chooks have a mite on their feet ..we are using cooking oil spray to kill them its taking awhile but they are getting better..any tips for mites
ReplyDeleteDavid...the chooks don't get fleas, but a couple of types of lice. Some eat dead skin but most seem to suck blood. Some live on the bird, others in the environment and climb aboard the meal train at night when the host has roosted. Last year my birds had something called feather lice, they were so irritating, the girls pulled out most of the feathers on their backs. They can also get leg mites that live under the scales on there legs and feet.
ReplyDeleteDust baths do help apparently...though I will be adding some wood ash to my girls' favourite places now (thanks Linda).
Joyful Homemaker...I have read that vaseline is good for leg mites...it may stick longer than cooking oil too. The idea is to smother them...the mites, not the chooks.
Mark...I definitely think it was Blogger playing up...but I did get very excited when my hits went sky high. LOL.
Oh, and on the subject of head lice and children...I once had a grade with 28 children in it and one day 24 were absent having their lice and nits treated...it was a very quiet day.
ReplyDeleteI never told anyone, but it was my fault. We had this perceptual motor program running daily and it had an activity for eye tracking. I had a tennis ball suspended from the ceiling. The children would lay under it and watch the swinging ball. Four or five laid down at once, with their heads together and feet pointing out in a star formation.
I think the lice took the opportunity to migrate from head to head. Ooops! Even the four that came that day, had been absent the day before, or were the day after for treatment....100% infestation. LOL.
lol! I can't believe you washed your chooks! They must be very forgiving animals!
ReplyDeleteBut for the sake of another photo opportunity (still laughing), maybe you could give them a warm bath by the fire; they might enjoy it!
This post and comments is making me scratch my head as I always do at the mention of lice. Luckily I've never had lice myself despite working with children. It'd be a nightmare to get lice out of my hair - it's curly and knotty and mostly wild. I only wash it once a week and I reckon that's the trick - lice mustn't like dirty hair!
ReplyDeleteAs for the stats, blogger definitely has got it wrong. Same as with Mark my stats recently reported three times the usual hits. I installed a counter from statcounter (google it) and it shows that blogger is getting it wrong. I haven't checked recently to see if it's back to normal.
Ginger! This coming from someone who tries to save mice (during a mouse plague) and doesn't complain when the significant other keeps them in a box in the cupboard and feeds them cat food?
ReplyDeleteWas that a class of 3rd Graders? At our local school, it was always 3rd graders who got head lice. My chickens don't get lice very often, but when my son raised White Old English for show, it was a constant battle with mites, especially in the winter. We tried all the home remedies, but with show birds you can't goop up their feathers. Finally found that Ivermectin - a drop or two in the vent area - solved the problem. These were not birds used for meat or eggs. Washing birds is fun. We used to wash as many as 35 in the kitchen sink to get ready for a show. Wrapped them up in towels and stacked them. Then we'd take one at a time and use a hair dryer. Trimmed their beaks and filed their nails, massaged Corn Huskers lotion into the scales on their legs, and as a finishing touch, rubbed light oil onto their combs and beaks. That was so much work and my kitchen and dining room were a mess for a week after because we popped the birds into their carriers and were gone for 3 days at the shows.
ReplyDeleteBlogger stats are interesting. I started my blog to keep in touch with relatives and few of them read it. Made a lot of new friends, though.
That's the bit about animals I don't quite like but gotta get the job done huh. By the way your harvest yesterday looks good for stew! Not sure about the blogger stats, know Mark has had some probs.
ReplyDeleteMy stats have taken a dive as well. I too think something's up with that. They dropped by the hundreds....hmmm.
ReplyDeleteOh boy, we have dealt with the lice thing. We used regular flea and tick spray. Killed them in 24 hours. They are nasty things.
As far as the bathing of chickens is concerned I too have been there and done that. It's a very interesting experience!!
Staci
As well as the dust baths and cleaning out the pen, etc, I regularly paint their perches, (especially underneath) with cooking oil. I was told to do this by a chook "expert" because the lice like to hide out under the the perch.
ReplyDeleteI also give the girls a leg massage with oil from time to time. Seems to work.
Thank you so am I. funny . B
ReplyDelete