The Spring Parasite Calendar
The Growing Flock — Part 6 of 8
Your birds are around thirteen weeks old now. They have their adult feathering, they have sorted out the pecking order, and they are starting to look like the flock you pictured when you set those eggs.
The weather is warming up right alongside them — and so are the parasites that live in and around a coop.
This is the article nobody enjoys reading, but it is the one that saves the most grief. Spring is when you get in front of parasites, not when you start chasing them.
Why Spring Is the Tipping Point
Most poultry parasites breed faster as the temperature climbs. A population that sat quietly through a Victorian winter can multiply many times over in a few warm weeks, once nights stop dropping below about 10 °C.
The consequence is this: by the time a problem is obvious to you, the coop is already carrying a very large population. You are not catching it early — you are catching it late and calling it early.
That is the whole argument for a calendar. A routine check and a seasonal treatment plan work on the population while it is still small and easy to knock down.
Red Mite: The Parasite That Doesn't Live on Your Birds
Red mite is the one to understand properly, because almost everything people get wrong about it comes from one assumption — that it lives on the chicken.
It doesn't. Red mite lives in the coop. It comes out at night, feeds on your roosting birds, and retreats before dawn into perch joints, cracks in timber, the gap under roofing sheets, nest box corners, and any crevice you would never think to look in.
So you can pick a bird up in daylight, part every feather, find nothing at all, and still have a serious red mite problem a metre away in the perch.
Signs to Watch For
- Pale combs and wattles — mites feed on blood, and a heavy load drains a bird
- Reluctance to go in at dusk — birds hesitating at the pop hole, or choosing to roost in a tree or on the fence
- Restlessness on the perch at night — shuffling, shifting, birds that won't settle
- A drop in laying, or pullets that stall just as they were coming good
- Tiny dark specks along perch joints and in the crevices at either end — mites and their droppings
How to Actually Check
Take a torch out after dark, an hour or two after the birds have gone to roost. That is when red mite is active and visible.
Run the light along the underside of the perch, into the joint where it meets its support, and into any crack in the timber. Wipe a white tissue along those joints — if it comes away with smeared rusty-red streaks, you have found them.
It takes two minutes. Done in daylight, the same inspection can easily show you nothing.
Treat the Coop as Well as the Bird
Because the population lives in the structure, treating the birds alone will not solve it. The coop is the habitat, and that is where the effort needs to go.
Clear out bedding and nesting material, get into perch joints, corners and seams, and pay attention to anywhere two surfaces meet. Smooth, sealed timber gives mites less to work with long term.
Our range of mite and biting insect control products covers both birds and housing. Whatever you use, follow the label directions exactly, and talk to your vet if you are unsure what suits your situation.
The Ones That Do Live on the Bird
Northern fowl mite is the mirror image of red mite — it spends its whole life cycle on the chicken, which makes it easier to find if you know where to look.
Pick a bird up in daylight and part the feathers around the vent first, then under the wings. Look for moving specks on the skin, greasy-looking feathers, and darkened feather bases.
Lice live on the bird too, and are larger and easier to see — pale, fast-moving insects that scatter when you part the feathers. Their real giveaway is the eggs: hard, greyish-white clusters cemented at the base of feather shafts, most often around the vent.
Those clusters do not brush off. If you find them, the birds have been carrying lice for a while.
Handle a couple of different birds each time rather than the same friendly one. The quiet bird at the bottom of the pecking order usually carries the heaviest load.
Scaly Leg Mite
Scaly leg mite burrows under the scales on a bird's legs and feet. The scales lift, thicken and crust, and in advanced cases the legs look swollen and white.
Two things make this one different. It develops slowly, so it is easy to miss until well established — and it resolves slowly too. Even with correct treatment, the legs will not look normal until new scales grow through, which can take several moults.
So don't judge your treatment by how the legs look next week. Judge it by whether the crusting is still progressing. While you are handling birds for a mite check, glance at the legs.
Worms: Why the Interval Matters More Than the Symptoms
Internal parasites are harder, because the signs are vague. There is rarely a dramatic moment. Instead you get a bird in slightly poorer condition than her sisters, dull feathering that never quite comes up, a slow start to laying, or a flock that simply isn't thriving.
Warm, damp spring ground suits worm eggs, and birds pick them up doing exactly what birds do — scratching and foraging. A run that has held chickens for a while carries more of them than fresh ground.
This is why worming works on an interval rather than on symptoms. You are keeping the burden low continuously, not waiting for it to declare itself. Rotating birds onto fresh ground where you can, and keeping the run from staying wet, reduces the pressure between treatments.
Have a look at the worming products available and choose one suited to your flock. Follow the label for whichever you select, and speak to your vet if you have any doubt — particularly around eggs, since requirements vary by product.
The Dust Bath: Your Birds' Own Defence
Long before anything came in a bottle, chickens managed external parasites by bathing in dry dust. Fine particles work into the feathers, coat the parasites and smother them, and the vigorous shaking that follows dislodges plenty more.
It is genuinely effective, and it costs nothing. Your job is just to make sure a good one is available.
- Choose a dry, sheltered spot — under the coop, in a covered run corner, or anywhere rain can't reach
- Use a shallow container or a scraped hollow, big enough for a bird to sit in and flick dust over her back
- Dry soil, sand and a little wood ash makes a good mix
- Turn it over occasionally so it stays loose, and top it up as it gets flicked out
With nowhere dry to bathe through a wet spring, birds lose a defence they would otherwise use every day.
Building the Routine
None of this needs to be a big production. The value is in a small thing done regularly rather than a large thing done occasionally.
- Every fortnight through spring and summer: a two-minute torch check on the perch joints after dark
- Every month or so: pick up two or three birds in daylight and check vents, under wings and legs
- Early spring: a thorough coop clean-out and treatment before the population gets going
- Through the warm months: a worming interval you have decided in advance and written down
- Always available: a dry dust bath
Write the dates on a calendar in the shed or set reminders on your phone. A plan you can see is a plan you will follow.
Your pullets are only weeks away from their first eggs. Keeping parasite pressure low now is one of the most useful things you can do to make sure they get there in good condition.
What's Next?
In Part 7, Getting Ahead of Summer Before It Arrives, we look at preparing your coop and flock for real heat — shade, ventilation, water and the changes worth making while the weather is still mild.