10 week old chick with scabby itchy skin rash

[Wohlen]

I gave 5 chicks to my friend and 1 chick has a scabby itchy skin rash on his head and neck. He's about 10 weeks old. None of my chicks here have it nor the other 4 at my friends house. He's a Cemani. No visible parasites. He is eating and drinking, no other symptoms.

Any suggestions? Is he old enough to be dusted?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You can dust him.
The scabs look like he may have been scratching himself. You can put a little triple antibiotic ointment on those or even coconut oil.
What type of food is he eating?

 

[ShannonR]

Time to check for parasites. Not going to be a fun job on that black chicken, though! Maybe something not visible like mange... idk

 

[Wohlen]

You can dust him.
The scabs look like he may have been scratching himself. You can put a little triple antibiotic ointment on those or even coconut oil.
What type of food is he eating?

 

[Wohlen]

He's on quick grow and extreme scratch diet, plus organic greens. No chemicals nor pesticides. There's a Hibiscus bush in the enclosure.
Could he be allergic to Hibiscus? He wasn't exposed to Hibiscus at my house. My friend uses the same shavings as myself.

 

[Wohlen]

Time to check for parasites. Not going to be a fun job on that black chicken, though! Maybe something not visible like mange... idk

 

[Wohlen]

Parasites was my first thought. Just confused since he's the only one who has it. Could he be allergic to something?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

He's on quick grow and extreme scratch diet, plus organic greens. No chemicals nor pesticides. There's a Hibiscus bush in the enclosure.
Could he be allergic to Hibiscus? He wasn't exposed to Hibiscus at my house. My friend uses the same shavings as myself.

Parasites was my first thought. Just confused since he's the only one who has it. Could he be allergic to something?

What is extreme scratch diet?
How much scratch do you feed?

Looking at the Quick Gro, that is probably o.k. but it is really formulated for broilers (meat birds). Are you planning on butchering him?

I would think about slowly switching him over to a chick starter, offer some poultry vitamins that contains E and A. Probably Poultry Nutri-Drench is fine or you can use Poultry Cell.

I don't think he would be allergic to hibiscus, but am just not sure. The skin lesions would be from scratching (lice/mites, being picked on or vitamin deficiency). Could also be something more serious like fungal infection or disease like Marek's.

I would dust with a permethrin based poultry dust, see that he is eating/drinking well. Treat the scabs and see how it goes.

 

[Wohlen]

Extreme is just a brand. I switched over a couple of years ago because it's oilier compared to other scratch. I'm not a big fan of quick grow. But it's affordable since I usually raise 30 plus chicks at a time. I buy it in a 50 lbs bag. But my chicks at my house are free roaming and eat a large variety of greens and bugs also. So quick grow is only one part of their diet. So far I never had any problems or issues with it. And no we won't butcher him.
But thank you for all your suggestions. I do appreciate your input very much.
I told my friend to try the dusting and also ointment. It's just confusing to me that the 4 girls don't show any symptoms at all.

 

[Wohlen]

Update: I got the chick back and unfortunately it's way more serious. In all the years that I have been hatching and breeding I've never come across a case like this. I'm almost 100 % sure it's a genetic defect most likely from inbreeding. He has developed extra folds of skin all over his body. The skin on his head is growing forward over his comb and eyes. Very bizarre. He seems to be itchy because he can't clean himself underneath the extra layers of skin. Now it's clear why none of the other chicks have the same condition . I hatched him from ebay eggs and I totally understand that there's no guarantee of what you're getting. Unfortunately I don't know what else to do than to put him down since for obvious reasons I won't be breeding with him.