black spots on combs and beaks

[applefalls]

My chickens are all 18 wks old and are I'm starting to notice tiny black spots on the combs and beaks of 6 out of my 8 chickens. The spots are tiny, about the size of a period on a piece of paper.

This EE has a visible black dot on her beak, towards the top, above her nostril. In this same photo, on the Red Star, there is a black dot on her comb. It is almost obstructed by the fence, but is visible just above the fence wire.

On many of the chickens, the dots look like clusters of dirt. My two Black Australorps would not tolerate being photographed, but on them, the black spots are mostly on the peaks of their combs. My Plymouth Rocks also mostly have them on the peaks of their combs.

I've looked at many sites that show pictures of pox, and I don't think these spot resemble pox; these spots are tiny.

Is this just a normal skin feature, like a freckle? Or is it something more serious?

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

SOME THOUGHTS?
HAVE YOU CLEANED THE CHICKEN HOUSE LATELY?

it could be the start of some kind of lice or mites

if not fowl pox then it has to be something like mites

do they look like they have mites in the feathers?

if so dust with sevin 5% and clean shed and put layer of Sevin 55 on floor then bedding

also take 1 qt of new car oil and 1 qt of kerosene or linseed oil
mix and paint the wooden areas of the chicken house
also paint the roosts and this will get rid of the mites or lice

any questions email me

 

[applefalls]

Thanks for your reply.

My chickens are in a tractor, which is only about 15 weeks old, so I have not yet given it a thorough scrubbing. Every day I change the bedding in the nesting boxes and once a week I move the tractor and scrape any droppings off of the roosts and other surfaces. The rest of the 'floor' is grass.
The girls are only in the tractor to sleep; during the day they are out and about in the enclosed yard.

 

[antlers]

LIkely gnat or fly bites.