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Magpies - Stealing or Eating Eggs

Here's a new article in the Pests and Predators section: Magpies - Stealing or Eating Eggs

In the U.K. we have the well-known Eurasian magpie. This is a very distinctive black and white bird that comes from the Corvidae family. Unfortunately, they are trouble for poultry keepers! Magpies can kill chicks and young birds but magpies can steal or eat eggs from nest boxes inside chicken houses as well when you’re not around. (more…)

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Red mite (Dermanyssus gallinae) are blood-feeding ectoparasites that live in small cracks inside poultry houses, coming out at night for a blood feed from chickens and turkeys during the warmer months. They are difficult to eradicate and have significant welfare and egg production implications in commercial and backyard flocks.

Red mite are not species specific and will feed from any type of bird although ducks and geese are not normally affected because they do not roost and are relatively active, moving around their house at night.

An infestation of red mites (also called chicken mites, roost mites or poultry mites) will cause skin irritation, stress and a reduction in egg numbers. In extreme cases, birds will become anaemic and can even die.They are particularly resilient. In the wild, red mites will live inside bark cracks of trees, waiting for long periods of time between feeds until a bird roosts nearby. I ran an experiment (more on this later), keeping red mites in jam jars and they lived for nearly 8 months without a feed…

Although mites usually spend the day hidden in cracks, only going onto birds at night for an hour or so to feed, a few can remain on a bird (maybe by accident) and get transported to new locations (for example when birds are sold). Although there is little research to support this, it is believed that wild birds can also bring red mite into a flock but there are also intermediate hosts that can carry them such as dogs or humans (usually on clothing) when visiting poultry houses or handling birds.

Red mite life cycle

I based the diagram below on the work of Sparagano, et. al.1 It shows the life cycle of the female red mite, Dermanyssus gallinae.

Diagram explanation.

The timing shown assumes normal British summer temperature and humidity. The complete life cycle is shortest during hot, humid weather. A typical cycle during the summer is only 7-10 days long.

A blood feed takes 1 to 2 hours and usually takes place at night when birds are roosting.

Eggs hatch into 6 legged Larvae in 2-3 days. They do not feed.

Larvae moult into 8 legged Protonymphs in 1-2 days and start to feed.

Protonymphs will have a blood feed and turn into Deutonymphs in another 1-2 days

Deutonymphs turn into adult red mites in 2-3 days and continue to take blood feeds

After feeding a female red mite will mate and within 1-2 days is laying eggs.

Females will routinely take a blood feed. Males feed less frequently.

The cycle is of course repeated and numbers increase…

Important to note:

The speed of the red mite life cycle depends on temperature and humidity. Red mite are inactive and cannot reproduce below 9°C so are usually only a problem for us between May and October in Europe.

Their life cycle takes a couple of weeks when the temperature is in the 10-20°C range, but increase the temperature to 25-30°C with 70% humidity and the lifecycle decreases to less than a week! This is why it’s important to re-treat houses every 3-4 days before Protonymphs and Deutonymphs that were missed in the first treatment can turn into egg laying adults.

In order to lay eggs, the female red mite must have a blood feed. She lays a clutch of around 8 eggs so under favourable weather conditions, red mites can multiply dramatically in just a few weeks.

How to identify red mite

Red mite are small, up to 1mm long and 0.7mm wide, slow moving mites. They range in colour from a very light grey, almost translucent to a light brown, black and blood-red colour after a feed. Their eggs are harder to spot with the naked eye at around 0.4mm and translucent, white in colour.

The macro photograph above (x5 magnification) shows some red mite at different stages of their life cycle from tiny white / translucent eggs to (what I think) is a grey protonymph that hasn’t fed yet and finally, a fully grown red adult mite, after a feed. This photo was taken of a crack of wood inside a poultry house before I fried them to a crisp with a blow torch!

The next photo was taken inside one of my larger chicken coops. You may wonder why they don’t appear to be hiding in cracks here. It’s because the coop door normally closes against this piece of wood.

Again, if you look carefully, you can see mites at different stages of the life cycle. I would guess that the really dark red mites probably had a feed the night before on my chickens.

Note the bits that look like cigarette ash. This is their excreta and can often be seen outside of cracks where the mites are hiding.

More photos of infestations can be seen in the gallery at the end of this guide.

Check your coop

Look for colonies of red mite and their excreta (that looks like cigarette ash) close to where birds roost at night.

Check perch ends for evidence. If perches are removable, this makes it easier to find them.

Sometimes chicken eggs will have mites crawling on them red ‘blood spots’ (which are squashed mites).

After dark, red mite will be active, crawling out and along perches to get to their hosts for a blood feed.

Using a torch, look for mites crawling along perches and walls of housing.

Wipe the underside of the perch with a white tissue and look for smears of blood.

Birds will be restless as they are being bitten by mites.

They may not want to go in their house to roost / may roost in the run.

Egg production will usually decrease and eventually birds will stop laying.

They may lay outside or on the floor of the coop because they get bitten whilst sitting in nest boxes.

Egg yolks may be pale.

Birds will start to lose condition.

As the infestation gets worse, they are losing a lot of blood. They will have a pale comb and wattles.

They will become anaemic and eventually they will die.

Birds at the bottom of the pecking order are often forced to roost near the worst infestation so are often the first to die.

Controlling red mite

Eradicating red mite completely is very difficult. Even when deep cleaning poultry housing and treating birds, it only takes a few red mites or eggs to escape and they will quickly multiply again. It is usually best to deep clean housing when you discover the problem, then have an ongoing regular treatment plan to stay on top of their numbers.

Red mite can survive without a blood feed for six to eight months so leaving the coop empty for a short while won’t kill them although changing housing and treating one house while the birds is in the other can certainly help.

[note style=”warn” show_icon=”true”]Perform a weekly check for red mites during warm weather. You will usually find them between the months of May and October in Europe.[/note]

Felt roofs

Unfortunately if your chicken coop has a felt roof, it is usually impossible to kill colonies of red mite that are underneath the felt, without removing and re-felting the roof. It is for this reason that I would recommend you remove felt roofs and replace them with some other material. Onduline in popular and available at most DIY stores. It is easy to cut with a saw to size and leaves no space for red mite to hide.

Control methods

Here are some ways that people control red mite. Some I have used myself, some I haven’t so I can’t say how successful they all are. I have adopted a more organic approach to flock management and a few of these methods rely on some fairly strong chemicals so be careful not to harm yourself or your birds if you decide to try some of these!

Creosote applied at least annually to the hen house. It must be the ‘old fashioned’ creosote which was banned in 2003. Sadly Creosote substitute that is sold in DIY stores doesn’t seem to have the same result. It is illegal to sell or use Creosote now unless it is for professional use. It can still usually be bought from agricultural suppliers.

Paint Paraffin into cracks and crevices.

Blow torches can be used around the cracks and crevices but be careful not to set fire to your coop! Do not use a blow torch on a plastic coop.

Steamers like this one used for stripping wall paper can be used to get into cracks and work really well.

Pressure Washers like this one can be used to spray into cracks to wash out mites.

Smearing a mixture of Paraffin and Vaseline into cracks and crevices. Vaseline is used frequently by poultry keepers to get rid of scaly leg mites. It smothers the mites.

Double-sided sticky fly papers / double-sided sticky tape on the underside of the perch and / or around ends of perches.

Corrugated cardboard – make ‘traps’ to fit on the underside of perches. As these fill up, remove them and burn.

Coke (no particular brand) poured into cracks to wet the mites apparently works by dissolving the waxy outer coating of the mite which then causes them to dehydrate and die. Worth a try!

A dust bath can really help the birds with mites and lice and is their natural way to getting rid of external parasites. Dusting powders can be added to dust baths (like Diatomacious Earth) so the birds get it into the places you have missed. When mites hop onto your birds at night, they will rub against the diatom.

Products to kill red mite

Commercial products

There are products used in commercial poultry housing, however most of these are only available in very large quantities so aren’t suitable or cost effective for backyard flocks with smaller houses.

Exzolt

A new noteworthy commercial product was launched by MSD Animal Health at the end of 2017 called Exzolt. This is different to other commercial products because it is added to the drinking water. The active ingredient is called fluralaner and this is absorbed by the gut and enters the bird’s bloodstream. It attacks the female mite’s nervous system and causes the mite to die after a blood feed.

Exzolt is administered twice, 7 days apart so that it treats two mite life cycles and trials have shown a 99% kill rate. There is no egg withdrawal period and there is a short 14 day withdrawal for meat.

It is currently only available in commercial sizes and the dosing needs to be accurate according to the weight of the bird so mixed flocks of bantams and large fowl would need separating. Add to this that it is only available on prescription from a vet, it is still out of reach for most of us with back garden poultry but may be of interest if you are a breeder with large numbers.

Insecticides

Most insecticides contain permethrin which is a man-made synthetic pyrethroid derived from dried flowers of the Chrysanthemum Daisy. Permethrin works as a contact insecticide that damages the nervous system of the insect. It is an effective insecticide and has a low toxicity in mammals.

Most products containing permethrin come in powder form for dusting the bedding and perches. They remain active for some time but do need to be re-applied after cleaning the house out.

Insecticides should not be used on the birds themselves unless they have been tested for use on birds laying eggs for human consumption. The cost to go through this sort of extensive testing is high and there is a very limited market for a company to invest in this for the backyard poultry market (commercially it wouldn’t viable to treat each bird individually).

‘Spot-On’ products

Using sprays or “spot-on” treatments (such as products containing ivermectin) designed for cage birds, pigeons or other small animals (and classified under the Small Animal Exemption Scheme) are prohibited for use since they will not have been tested for residues in eggs laid for human consumption. A Veterinary Surgeon is able to prescribe these under their Cascade scheme and will advise an egg withdrawal period.

Organic treatments

These can be broken down into three broad categories:

Powders: Diatomaceous earth or silica based products that are microscopically sharp. They pierce the outer, waxy coating of the mite causing them to dehydrate and die.

Liquid detergents: These break down the waxy coating off the mite which will again cause them to dehydrate and die.

Natural oils: which provide an inhospitable environment for mites to live in.

Some products contain more than one of these, for example diatomaceous earth and tea tree oil in a powder.

With organic treatments, they take time to be effective and repeat treatments are often necessary. It is best to combine at least a couple of types of product, for example, liquid detergents are useful since they will run into the cracks and crevices. They can also be sprayed into difficult to reach areas. Once the coop is dry this can be followed by a dusting powder (concentrated on the perch ends and nest boxes) to catch mites that have been missed and as they come out at night to feed and try to get to birds.

Poultry Shield

Poultry Shield is the most popular red mite product by far. It is a multi-purpose cleaner / detergent / sanitiser that is good to use for regular cleaning of the coop but is also very effective at killing red mite. The manufacturer states that it is not caustic and contains no insecticide, it simply washes the waxy coating off the mite, causing it to dehydrate and die. This makes it safe to use (following the manufacturer’s instructions of course) and can even be used with your birds inside the house although I’ve never used it like this.

You can buy Poultry Shield here.

I always keep Poultry Shield in stock because outside of the red mite season, it is useful for cleaning out the chicken coop. After cleaning I also find Diatom powder useful to dust around the coop and perch ends after cleaning.

Smite

Smite is another popular detergent based product that is effective against red mite and their eggs as well as other parasites. It is  degreasing cleaner that is good for removing organic matter during routine cleaning. It has a pleasant odour and has an easy to use dosing pump fitted to the top of the container.

The manufacturer recommends a 6% dilution of SMITE which makes it economical to use. Like Poultry Shield, it is safe to spray the housing with the birds inside although there isn’t usually any need for this.

You can buy SMITE here

Both Poultry Shield and Smite are non-toxic products that don’t contain pesticides so are my preferred choice of liquid detergents for both cleaning and red mite control.

Diatom

Diatom powder is made from diatomaceous earth and is probably the most popular dusting powder used for the control of red mite. Diatomaceous Earth is made of micro skeletons of fossilised remains of deceased diatoms, a type of algae so is a totally natural product and is used on many organic farms.

Diatom has microscopically sharp edges and it works by piercing the outer waxy coating of the mite, causing it to dry up (desiccate) and die after a short while. There is no chemical toxicity since diatom controls insects by physical rather than chemical means.

You can buy Diatom here

Dusting Diatom around bedding and rubbing it into the underside of perches and perch ends can drastically reduce red mite numbers between cleaning out the coop with a liquid detergent like Poultry Shield or Smite. If you would like to read more about other products for red mite control then you might like to visit my blog post: Red Mites: My Top 8 Products

Herbs and Oils

The following have been used with various degrees of success. The most effective seem to be garlic and tea-tree based.

Tea Tree.

Peppermint.

Citronella – Often sold to prevent mosquitos.

Eucalyptus – Trees grow well in the UK and can be bought from garden centres. Crush fresh Eucalyptus leaves and use in bedding to help to deter Red-Mites or plant a Eucalyptus tree near the coop.

Lemongrass – Which can also be grown from seed in the greenhouse.

Cedarwood Oils.

Soya Bean Oils.

Garlic and Garlic Oil.

I have used a few of these for red mite control with success the main two being garlic and Eucalyptus. Garlic has many other health benefits as well as being a natural insecticide. It is thought that the red mite don’t like the smell that comes off the skin or the taste of blood after garlic has been eaten. I crush a couple of fresh cloves into their water, or, I will use dried garlic granules. I wrote more about feeding garlic to chickens in this article: Garlic for Chickens

The small print

I hope this is obvious, but I’ll say it anyway. Whilst some products are considered safe to use for this application, you should still take sensible precautions and follow the manufacturer’s safety advice.

For example, do not inhale dusting powders or sprays, wear protective clothing such as a face / dust mask and when using liquids, wear rubber gloves to protect hands from coming into contact with the liquid.

How long can they survive?

I was curious to see how long I would need to leave a coop empty before the red mite would die off so I conducted an experiment at home.

I hand picked about 100 mites that were blood red (in other words, they were adults that had fed recently) were placed into two jars with some compost to hide in. A moist piece of kitchen towel was placed in the top and the jars were placed in a warm location out of sunlight.

After 6 months, I found two mites were still alive and it took 7 months before all of the mites were dead.

This certainly shows their resilience. Whilst my experiment wasn’t done in any scientific way, I believe it still shows that we would need to leave a coop for at least 8 months before it would be clear of red mite!

[note style=”warn” show_icon=”true”]Red mite have a habit of surviving many treatments and can survive undetected for many months until conditions are right when their numbers can multiply again.[/note]

Frequently Asked Questions

[accordion] [toggle title=”Can red mites bite humans?“]Red mite can be difficult to see. They can usually be felt crawling on exposed parts of the body after cleaning out infested poultry housing. They can bite, leaving small red marks, similar to a rash but the bites aren’t normally felt.[/toggle] [toggle title=”Can my dog get red mites from my chickens?“]Red mite cannot feed on dogs’ blood but can they can be a temporary host, hitching a ride. They can bite, leaving small red marks but more commonly will cause your dog to itch and therefore start scratching as they crawl around. They can be removed using a dog shampoo and rinsing with warm water in the shower or bath.[/toggle] [toggle title=”Can red mite infest your home?“]Red mite cannot survive on humans alone (although they will bite). They are not known to transmit disease and will not normally survive in your home. Saying this, there have been cases where mites are forced to leave a nest in a roof after young birds have fledged and find a human meal. I wrote a post on red mite infesting your house which gathers some evidence. There were a lot of comments from people who have been suffering from a mite infestation of some sort in their home.[/toggle] [toggle title=”What to do if you get covered in red mites?“]If you get mites crawling on you, remove outer clothing and put them through the wash. Take a shower and wash with soap. They will be washed away but also killed by the soapy water which removes their waxy protective outer coating.[/toggle] [/accordion]

Conclusions / key points

To wrap up, here are the key points to remember from this guide to red mite.

Red mite live in poultry housing, they come out at night for a blood feed from your birds.

Birds will lose blood, stop laying, become anaemic and eventually in the case of bad infestations, will die.

It is difficult to completely rid the coop in one treatment. You should deep clean but follow up with a regular treatment plan. Often, it is only possible to reduce numbers to a manageable level.

A combination of products work best, for example a detergent based product like Poultry Shield to wash the coop out and then a powder like Diatom dusted around perch ends.

You need to keep the life cycle of red mite in mind. In warm temperatures, mites can go from eggs to egg laying adults in less than a week so you must repeat treatments every 2-3 days to break their life cycle.

Red mite can survive for several months in an unoccupied coop.

The mitey gallery

Just for some fun and to help other readers recognise red mite infestations, please send me ([email protected]) your photo of the little red devils you’ve found. If you can include your first name, nearest town and a comment about where you found them, I will credit you and add the comments.

A large infestation of red mite found in a crack, not far from a perch end.

Red mite and their excreta which looks like cigarette ash found underneath a perch.

Mites found under a felt roof. You can see adults and eggs clearly.

A red mite infestation found around the door of a poultry house. Mostly adult mites and their excreta.

A close up macro photo of some red mite at different stages of their life cycle, from egg to adult.

I put red mite in a Jar and they lived for nearly 7 months!

This shows you the size of a red mite, next to a pencil.

If you are interested in reading a practical page on How To Get Rid of Red Mite then there is a blog post I wrote a few years ago here where I used a pressure washer and diatom to get rid of red mite in one of my coops. There is also more information on the keeping-chickens.me.uk website on Red Mite.

Finally, good luck, I hope this guide will help you. I would welcome your feedback in the comments.

References

1 Significance and control of the poultry red mite, dermanyssus gallinae. / Sparagano, O. A E; George, D. R.; Harrington, D. W J; Giangaspero, A. In: Annual Review of Entomology, Vol. 59, 01.2014, p. 447-466.

New Red Mite Guide. I've put everything I know into this, I hope it's useful.. comments are very welcome. Red mite (Dermanyssus gallinae) are blood-feeding ectoparasites that live in small cracks inside poultry houses, coming out at night for a blood feed from chickens and turkeys during the warmer months.

[poultrykeeper]

Chicken Houses - The Ultimate Guide

Chicken Houses – The Ultimate Guide

The chicken-house or coop is usually considerably more expensive than the chickens who will live in it. While the choice of chicken houses has never been wider, and purchasing one has never been simpler, it’s never been easier to make a costly mistake. Poor quality or workmanship will not only prove uneconomical in the long-term, but may cause problems for you and suffering for your chickens.

Ove…

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Dutch Vet Tour Helps British Farmers Cut Antibiotic Use

Farmers in the Netherlands have slashed their antibiotic usage by more than 60% since 2007, and British vets are using their experiences to help UK farmers meet their own reduction targets.

In a recent tour of British and Dutch farms, organised by Applied Bacterial Control (ABC) – a firm founded by a group of vets to target antibiotic reduction – delegates learnt about the importance of adopting…

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[poultrykeeper]

How Comfortable Are You with Duck & Goose Down Production?

How Comfortable Are You with Duck & Goose Down Production? Zoe investigates this sometimes sinister industry.

WhenI was a small child back in the seventies we had a family eider down. It was a hand me (eider) down from my great grandparents. I loved the eider down, I used it whenever I was feeling poorly or cold in bed. It was a beautiful thing finished in silk with intricate embroidery. The only thing I wasn’t too keen on was that it made me sneeze, in fact it made the whole family sneeze, as did…

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Why is my Cockerel White?

Why is my Cockerel White?

My first flock of hens were some Warren Browns, and were essentially spent stock from a local egg producer. My first cockerel was a traditionally coloured farmyard fowl that was somewhere in between large fowl and bantam in size, but after getting no results with fertility we opted to try a different route.

My uncle had bought me 2 Light Sussexhens from Walton in Liverpool, and these to me were…

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[poultrykeeper]

Well, for the Club’s second Poultry Club of Great Britain Regional Show, held on Valentine’s day 14th February 2016, the love of poultry keeping was certainly in the air with a Valentine theme for the day.

The show had a total entry of 675, made up of 555 birds and 120 egg entries. Joining us for the day we welcomed five judges Mr Chris Parker: Hard Feather, Juniors and Rare Breeds. Mr Joe Harrison: Soft Feather and Waterfowl. Mr Tim Moss: True bantams plus Utility and Trio classes. Mrs Julia Jessop: True Bantam (Seramas) and Mr Tim McNeight: Egg classes. The biggest class was the True Bantams with 191 entries, 81 being Seramas, hence the need to appoint a specialist breed club judge and Julia Jessop stepped in leaving Tim Moss with 110 True bantams, 72 of which were Pekins.

Mr Chris Parker had 72 Hard Feather 50 Rare Breeds and 31 Junior entries to deliberate over, with Mr Joe Harrison judging the 61 Soft Feather large fowl, 92 Soft Feather bantams and 48 Waterfowl and Mr Tim McNeight the 120 Egg classes.

The club was delighted to be able to award a number of new trophies and awards, notably two new shields donated by the Northants Native Breeds Club. A new Waterfowl trophy donated by Mrs June Wilson, Junior Handler Cup donated by the Anthony family, Best Utility fowl cup donated by Mr Colin Wood, Best Trio Cup donated by Elaine Oliver and 3 trophies including best Serama trophy donated by the Anderson-Howe family.

The second hall featured a number of trade stalls including the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, British Waterfowl Association, Brinsea incubators, Fowl Play Books, and show sponsors Bagforce.

The Club is extremely grateful to all the supporters and helpers for all their hard work over the weekend and now look forward to the Club’s Egg show on Saturday 21st May 2016 at Crick Village Hall Northamptonshire NN6 7SX .

Results

Best in Show: Buff Laced Wyandotte – Kerry Wilson Reserve Best in Show: O.E.G Bantam – Mr S. A. Owen Best Utility Breed: Indian Game – Mr & Mrs R Dowden Best Rare Large fowl: Norfolk Grey Male – B. Burford & S Bowsher Best Rare Bantam: Krienkoppe Male – B & C Ward Best Large fowl: S/F Heavy Brahma (Gold) Male – C Holtom Best Bantam: S/F Heavy Buff Laced Wyandotte – Kerry Wilson Best Large fowl Hard Feather: Oxford O.E.G Male – Mr Colin Wood Best Bantam Hard Feather: O.E.G Bantam Male – Mr S. A. Owen RES Best Large fowl: S/F Araucana Male – Sarah Litchfield Best Bantam : S/F Poland Hen – Linda Lane Best True Bantam: Serama Male – Maddy Chenery Best Waterfowl: Muscovy – C Holtom Best Eggs: 3 Any Other Colour Eggs – Christopher Bennett Best Trio: Modern Game Bantams – Dean Wesley Adams Best Juvenile: Bantam Silver Appleyard – D.S.L.V (Callum) Best Turkey: Cröllwitzer Stag – Janet Taylor Best Goose: African – Kathryn Brown Best Junior Handler: Chantelle Walker

Photos

All photos are courtesy of poultry photographer Rupert Stephenson.

Photos and Results of the Northampton & District Poultry Club Spring Show 2016 (I've been busy but better late than never!) Well, for the Club's second Poultry Club of Great Britain Regional Show, held on Valentine's day 14th February 2016, the love of poultry keeping was certainly in the air with a Valentine theme for the day.

[poultrykeeper]

Stop Following Me! Imprinting in Ducks & Geese

Stop Following Me! Zoe looks at imprinting in Ducks & Geese and tells the story of Wayward...

Meet Wayward. Wayward is a wild mallard duckling, pictured here at 3 weeks old. Wayward was found alone at only a day old. For about 5 months a year I take in lots of ducklings, just like Wayward. Some are found alone, some are found in small groups. All have been left behind or lost their way during the arduous trek that their mothers take to lead them to water after hatch. (more…)

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Barred Wyandottes

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Grant Brereton, a leading authority on poultry plumage genetics examines the Barred Wyandotte and provides some tips on their genetics and breeding.

According to David Scrivener’s Popular Poultry Breeds, although an American breed, the Barred variety of Wyandotte was actually created in Germany through crossings of Barred Rocks and Black Wyandottes (as well as possibly Dominiques).

A…

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[poultrykeeper]

Incubation Humidity

Advice on Incubation Humidity varies. In this article I get to the bottom of it!

Advice on incubation humidity varies wildly from different sources and it seems to be a constant worry to newcomers who are incubating their first few batches of eggs.

One of the sources of confusion with humidity comes from incubator manufacturers, since there are a number of recommendations in their manuals that suggest different values of humidity as being the ‘optimum’. Many of these…

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[poultrykeeper]

The Reading and District Bantam Society Championship show was held last weekend (27th-28th February) and I was again really pleased to be invited to take photos.

With 2256 bird and egg entries and more than 500 people coming through the door, the show continues to be the most important event for fanciers interested in bantams. This year, the championship judge was Andrew Wetters who chose a beautiful white Wyandotte pullet exhibited by Allan Brucker as the Best in Show and a lovely white female Pekin Bantam exhibited by Mr and Mrs Simms as the Reserve Best in Show.

If you had a bird photographed and would like a copy of the high-resolution images, then please email me ([email protected]) if you haven’t already and I will send them out to you over the next few days.

My thanks go to the Reading and District Bantam Society committee who made me feel extremely welcome and clearly worked very hard to make this show such a success.

The Results

Here are the results from the show.

Congratulations to Allan Brooker, the Best In Show with his beautiful white Wyandotte and Mr and Mrs Sims with their White Pekin Bantam as Reserve Best in Show.

Allan Brucker with his white Wyandotte Bantam.

The Main Results

Best in show – Allan Brooker’s white Wyandotte female Reserve – Mr & Mrs Sims white Pekin female Soft feather light – S & G Hodges white crested Poland Hard feather – Jackson & Lutey Old English Game black red male Rare – Jenny Campbell’s cuckoo Naked Neck female Waterfowl – Val Kitt’s mallard Call duck Trio – Jackson & Lutey’s black German Langshans Juvenile – Tom Marsh’s Belgian Eggs – Sandy Vaughan 3 cream bantam eggs

Best of Breeds

Here are the Best of Breed Results.

[tabgroup] [tab title=”Soft Feather Heavy” id=”t1″] Australorp – Anita James Barnevelder – David Baker Brahma – K & J Dowrick Croad Langshan – Merchant & Tilling Faverolles – C Norman Frizzle – Ray Parsons German Langshan – B & C Ward Marans – J McKeating New Hampshire Red – C A Compton Orloff – Helen Cooper Orpington – S & G Hodge Plymouth Rock – Robin Ramus Rhode Island Red – J A Raymond Sussex – Keith Barnes Wyandotte- Allan Brooker[/tab]

[tab title=”Soft Feather Light” id=”t2″] Ancona – C Hammond Appenzeller – C Edmonds Araucana – Lee Pedley Hamburgh – J Owen Leghorn – T Paice Minorca – K Brown Poland – S & G Hodge Scots Dumpy – T Hamilton-Gould Silkie – L Smith Welsummer – Phillips & Moreira[/tab]

[tab title=”True Bantams” id=”t3″] Belgian – M Hughson Booted – R Boden Dutch – S York Japanese – N Hutchinson Pekin – Mr & Mrs Sims Rosecomb – S & G Hodge Sebright – J Robinson Serama – M Chenery[/tab]

[tab title=”Rare Breeds” id=”t4″] Burmese – H Caudrey Friesian – D Webber Kraienkoppe – B & C Ward Nankin – C E Handley Ohiki – H Berry Rumpless – A Marnent Silician Buttercup – H Caudrey Sulmtaler – J Freeman Sumatra – S & G Hodge Thuringian – W Shackel Naked Neck – Jenny Campbell Vorwerk – Jane Freeman Yokohama- C Hull[/tab] [/tabgroup]

Junior Results

This year there were some new medals for juvenile exhibitors who had their own Championship Row! Well done RDBS for encouraging the next generation!

GOLD Best Junior (Belgian) – Tom Marsh GOLD Best Handler – Freddie Lawrence

SILVER Reserve Junior (hard feather) M Simmons SILVER Reserve Handler – James Hamilton

BRONZE Best soft feather – Finn Tippetts BRONZE Best true – Charlie English BRONZE Best waterfowl – Tom Marsh BRONZE Best eggs – M. Simmons BRONZE Pekin – Charlie English[/tab]

Photos

Here are some photos of the winners and some of the other birds at the show. More will appear in Fancy Fowl Magazine soon (subscribe here!).

Click images to see them full size

Photos and Results of the Reading Bantam Show 2016 The Reading and District Bantam Society Championship show was held last weekend (27th-28th February) and I was again really pleased to be invited to take photos.

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The Dominant White Gene

Another great article from @gbpoultry The Dominant White Gene

The word ‘gene’ is enough to put many people off when it comes to poultry articles. However, let me assure you, I don’t intend to get technical; there will be no complex looking scientific symbols in this article for poultrykeeper – just the basics. The aim is for it to be a fun read!

When learning about poultry genetics, I felt great relief when realising that all fowl were naturally meant to be…

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Exhibiting Polands: The Breed Standard

The Poland is another of the great exhibition breeds. Laurence Beeken provides some tips for exhibiting them:

The Poland is another of the great exhibition breeds and certainly one of the most rewarding, a good Poland will always make it to championship row of the larger shows. Preparation is time-consuming and fraught with problems, but is so worth the effort when the bird is presented well. When showing your Poland, you should remember that a judge will look to grade your bird on 6 main points:

(more…

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The Best Laying Hens

Hybrid or Pure Breed? Which are considered the Best Laying Hens? Anne investigates.

What are the best hens for eggs – Hybrids or pure-breeds? Anne looks at the advantages and disadvantages of the two and makes some suggestions as to which are the best laying hens for the backyard chicken-keeper.

Most of us start keeping chickens for their eggs – and why not?  Eggs warm from the nest-box are a modern luxury, guaranteed fresh and of obvious origin.

All chickens lay eggs, but…

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Rats: I Get Them Also!

The rat is a survivor. No matter what we throw against it, we shall never win, but we can control the numbers:

There can be little doubt: some people display a degree of innocence over the problem of rats. There are those people who think they have no other option than to put up with them and those people who think they will go away or have done so when the digging stops.

Those people who over a long career have never learnt or observed a thing about rats and take losses of stock and damage to property as…

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Success Breeding Chickens: Prepotent Males

Latest article from @gbpoultry Success Breeding Chickens: Prepotent Males

I have read with great interest the breeding articles by Stan Simister (Creating a Strain), Derek Alsop’s response and more recently, Robin Ramus’ Federation Interview in Fancy Fowl Magazine UK. I found their advice to be very wise and coming from a wealth of experience in poultry.

Robin Rasmus, Show Champion at the Federation Show for his Buff Rock Bantam

The common theme in these articles is…

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Federation 2015

Federation 2015: Photos from the Weekend

Last weekend Rupert and I visited the Federation of Poultry Clubs’ Championship Show or “The Fed” as it’s called by most to take photos of some of the prize winners. With over 7000 poultry & waterfowl in more than 1450 classes, it’s one of the biggest in the country and is always a pleasure to visit as people are in high spirits just before Christmas.

Thank you to everyone who patiently queued…

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