Adult chicken with dirty butt

[Sigma T]

Hello everyone,

I was hoping someone could reassure me or get me pointed in the right direction on this if I'm on the wrong path.

I have an adult silkie chicken with a persistent dirty butt. When I first noticed this, I found that she had a pretty bad lice infestation with significant nits on her tail feathers. I treated her several times for the lice over the course of several weeks until no nits or lice have been seen (All the rest of my chickens have been treated too and are now on a frequent inspection plan!). The poor little thing still has a dirty butt and seems to be loosing weight and feathers. She seems energetic, eats, and doesn't let the other hens give her any business, but looks terrible and still has a dirty butt. I consulted an avian vet by e-mail who recommended giving her Ivermectin orally at the dose of 0.03 milliliters to her 650 g of body weight (the ivermectin is 10 mg/ml). She also said I could inject it if it's a sterile solution, or apply it to her skin.

I just wanted to get feedback from anyone who has experienced a bad lice infestation and if the dirty butt is related to it. Whether anyone has given ivermectin to their chickens and if I should give it orally or apply it to the skin. The vet also recommended I give the ivermectin to the rest of the flock, but they are not showing signs and prefer to treat them with Diatomaceous earth over chemicals since the other are producing eggs for my consumption.

Thanks for your help and attention to this long post!

Stacey

 

[sammi]

lots of people use Ivomec for chickens..
here is a link to info:

http://shilala.homestead.com/ivomec.html

this will help to debug and worm them..

the DE will works ok for maintenance once an infestation is under control..

what all do you feed?
have you checked her crop to make sure it is emptying properly?
also, check her mouth and throat for any sores or sour odor.

it's best to have a fecal float (worm and cocci test) done by a vet..
bacteria if possible..

some extra protein, vitamins and plain active culture yogurt might help her..
since it's also possible she has a yeast infection..
but if she has some form of cocci..the extra protein and vitamins could aggravate the situation..

 

[dlhunicorn]

follow your vets advice and use the spot on method (it will get worms too and I think this is what is ailing your gal)

 

[Sigma T]

Thank you both for your responses! I'll do the dosing tonight and write back on her progress. I tried adding her picture as my signature, hopefully it will work, but I'm new to this site.

Ironically her name is "Dirty Bird" because she is a splash buff silkie and basically looks like a white bird who got dirty. I'll think twice about such names in the future because she is living up to her name!

Thanks again!
Stacey