Itchy Chicken

Itchy Chicken (weird mites found-update)

Hi, I hope someone can please help me.

I have 4 chickens and one of them has plucked her bottom bare. It's been like that for a while and doesn't seem to bother her.

But lately she's been getting bare on her head near her comb. I've been watching her today and she keeps itching her head. I don't think she has red mites because the other 3 are fine & all their combs/wattles are bright red & they all spend plenty of time in their coop.

Any ideas anyone??

 

Hi Can I ask is she or was she a good layer , I ask this because when they are not good layers they moult in patches , the good layers moult realy quickly .

Have you given them a dusting with lice powder as bird off colour can be effected and the others dont show any sighns but still carry a infestation .

I would treat the lot give the coop a good clean out and burn all the bedding give the perches a good scrub as the red mites pop out at night

If nothing changes pop the vet and seek professional help

Spruce

 

hi, thanks for the reply. yes she's a good layer. almost every day. she also has a few feathers missing on her neck and body, so i did wonder if she's moulting. But if she is, it's not an obvious moult, if you know what I mean.

ok, I will give them all a good dusting (2 of them are newbies that I got a month ago, but I dusted them before I introduced them) and I will clean out the bedding and scrub the coop down. I always burn the bedding anyway, they produce too much to compost!

i notice one of the newbies has a bit of a sneeze that makes her honk like a goose & loose poo too, I saw in Country Smallholding mag that it's probably a low level bacterial infection, so i've started putting Cider Vinegar in their water to treat them all at once.

Hopefully that will sort them out.

 

Hi Introducing new chickens is always stressful for both old and new into the flock even when its so small a number , so now what you have posted makes sense.


We used to have a goose on the farm that actualy was called Honk (blue eyes) , all the ducks would follow him eveywere

Spruce

 

It may be the others pulling the feathers out ,can happen with new birds .

 

hi Gogs. the 2 newbies (la fleche) were nrevous and flighty for a few days, THEY were the ones getting pecked. they'e settled right down now, but my 2 older hens (a speckledy & a Rhode Rock-the problem bird) are DEFO in charge of the pen lol.

 

ok, update.

i have just had the 4 of them out to red mite dust them. all oif them but the speckledy are moulting. the ithcy chicken (rhode rock) has bare patches over her body, no new feathers coming through. I'm wondering if she's repeatedly plucking herself due to the itching?

anyway, no red mites were found on any of them, BUT on the biggest Le Fleche there were LOADS of these white/opaque bugs crawling all over it! about 3 or 4 mm long. I have no idea what they are. We put more powder on that bird!

Then we sealed off the coop and put the bug bomb in (hubby works on a farm, so he got one from work) and loads of earwigs started falling out of the cracks. The bug bomb is still smoking now, the coop sealed with duck tape. it's raining, but the chooks can shelter under the coop.

my son wondered if the bugs on the le fleche are earwig larvae?? He saw some albino earwigs fall out when he lit the bug bomb. I googled and they look similar. But are there any other bugs it could be?

 

Hi
Glad you are getting it sorted out sounds like lice ,, you wont find red mite on the birds as they come out only at night then back into the crevises and cracks during the day, that smoke bomb will get it sorted out but make sure you ventilate the coop realy well when the chuck s go back in change the water everyday for the next couple of days as well

Spruce

 

lice? will red mite powder kill them, or do i need something different?

yes, we will air the coop well before letting the chooks back in, we always do. and i will change the water every day too. i'm putting cider vinegar in the water atm cos the largest le fleche (with the bugs) keeps sneezing and has brown runny poos. I read in the Country Smallholding mag that it could be a low level bacterial infection, hence the cider vinegar

 

Hi
Did they start droping off , when you put it on them after about 30 mins put some newspaper down and pick up one up and ruffle the feathers and see what drops off.
The one with the sneezes and runny poo needs antibiotics been going on to long ... also might be worms ??? you should get it checked out properley as it may infect the rest of them , low level would of cleared up sooner by now considering your first post was the 10th July so I think cider vinegar is ok as a tonic but nothing more than that , I know somtimes it cost a lot at the vet as my friends hamster in work was ill and £45.00 later it was better.
Have a google at lice on chickens should be able to show you a picture.

Hope she feels better soon

verm x liquid is a good allrouder to treat the birds with jut add to the drinking water

Spruce




Spruce

 

hi
i have wormed them as soon as i got them (about 5 weeks ago) and the woman i got them off said they had been wormed previously too. hopefully it isnt that. i will look into getting some antibiotics, thanks

 

cheers. i will look out for that.

 

when hubby comes home he's going to knock up a makeshift chicken hosp out of an old wooden garden table for the one that needs antibiotics, so we can still eat the eggs from the other ones. plus the one thats ill is the one with lice, so we can get that sorted before reintroducing them.
hopefully in the meantime the rhode rock who's itched her head bald will recover, but i will get lice powder and do them all again.