Need help identifying mites vs molting

[Bunkie74]

Thanks for reading.... some of my girls have lost feathers under the vent. I am not sure if mites or molting. They are about 9 mo. Old. I purchased some seven dust today and thought it might be good to treat as if parasites. How do I use the seven dust? Just in egg boxes, directly on them, sprinkled around the coop. Any suggestions? Thank you again. I have posted pictures.

 

[Isaac 0]

Why dont you just check for Mites/Lice?.They can be found under the vent and the wings.

 

[Eggcessive]

That looks more like feather picking to me. I would get some BluKote and spray the bare spots. It will wear off in a few weeks, but keep applying it every 3 days until feathers come back. Make sure that you are feeding a balanced layer feed, that they are not overcrowded when confined to the coop, and that they get outside daily to roam. I would not treat with chemicals unless you see lice or mites. Pick up the chicken and turn it over on it's back, and then part the feathers under the vent. There are 3 types of lice--those under the vent, those around the neck, and those under the wings. Lice leave white clumps of eggs at the base of feathers, and are very fast moving tiny bugs. Mites are slower, may leave dirty specks and may be anywhere. Some only get on the birds at night, then disappear into the woodwork during the daytime. Permethrin spray or garden dust is a little less toxic than Sevin, but I have used both. Here is a good article on feather picking and another 2 with pictures of lice and mites:
http://articles.extension.org/pages...nibalism-in-small-and-backyard-poultry-flocks
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/08/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification.html
http://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8162.pdf

 

[Bunkie74]

Thank you for your detailed response! I did check the girls and didn't see any bugs, but I will continue to monitor. they do go out each day, but it has been snowy and cold here so maybe they are staying in the coop vs going out in the pen.

 

[Molpet]

The chickens will absorb the pesticide in the dust and there will be pesticide residue in the eggs. They've done studies on this. If you don't care if you're eating residue, that's fine. A lot of people don't care about that. You really just have to go by how you feel about it.

 

[Isaac 0]

The chickens will absorb the pesticide in the dust and there will be pesticide residue in the eggs. They've done studies on this. If you don't care if you're eating residue, that's fine. A lot of people don't care about that. You really just have to go by how you feel about it.

Interesting.Do you have the studies.Never even thought about that.

 

[Molpet]

http://www.healthyworld.org/sevin.html
http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/carbaryl-dicrotophos/carbaryl-ext.html
http://www.whatsonmyfood.org/food.jsp?food=EG