My cockerel was scratching so I dusted him with mite powder a couple of weeks ago and cleaned out the coop, treated it for red mites and hoped that was OK. Today he’s scratching but the other hens aren’t. I decided to dust him again with mite powder and he’s infested. I ended up checking with my vet about a spot on treatment with invermectin that I have now ordered but until then I needed to help him. I looked on line and gave him a bath containing some mild dish soap. He enjoyed it, even went to sleep. It was a deep trug and I had to hold his head up making sure everywhere got a good soaking for at least 20 mins. When looking at his feathers pre-bath I also noticed some clumps around the base of his feathers down his spine and around his behind. I thought it was residue from the last dusting that may have got damp and clumped around the feathers but when I was trying to remove them they turned out to be spongy matts which I am now wondering were possibly some kind of egg casing? Can anyone identify it from this picture? At the moment he’s drying off after a blow dry in a cardboard box by a radiator. Once he is dry I will give him another dusting and hope that it helps until I get the invermectin drops. Incidentally, the invermectin is for birds up to 500g so if my cockerel and any of his girls are more than 500g do I alter the dosage?