BROKEN FEATHERS - DEPLUMING MITES-MANGE- ANSWERS!

[eleaserek]

Thanks! I will. She's the only one out if my 8 that seems to be affected. Is that normal?

 

[TwoCrows]

Not all my birds were effected either. The two birds that bunked next to her on the roost bar had some issues on their wing shoulders where she made contact with them, but the rest of my birds stayed fairly normal. But I can see evidence to some degree in all my birds...thin horizontal barring in the primaries and tail feathers and over preening. I think our wild birds carry these things and my birds pick them up while free ranging. Healthy birds usually can control them enough its not a huge deal and you dont see too much feather damage. Young and old birds are usuaslly most effected. My BR was about 7 months old when these mites began working on her.

 

[bawkbawks]

Thanks for the thread! I've got 8 Easter eggers who have been battling mites for years. They are in another outbreak now and I think it's because of the heat stress.

Dusting the poor birds in powered sevin seemed to work for awhile. Then they got leg mites. I've tried everything, from the gasoline dip to diatomaceous earth. Now again with the feather mites. What's ridiculous is it's just the Easter eggers, my other 9 are in perfect health (cuckoos, Plymouth rocks, & wyandotte).

I'll have to try the drops. They've been getting a booster in their feed and a probiotic in the water so hopefully it won't stress them too much!

 

[eleaserek]

Okie dokie. Dosed them tonight. I think my white rock has a much lighter infestation, just a spot on her shoulder, so went ahead and dosed her too. I have to say, it was harder to do than I thought it would be! Trying to count drops and keep feathers parted is a pain in the butt, lol. I think I might have put a little more than I meant to on one of them...do you suppose it would still work if I did every other week instead? I don't want to over dose :/

Eta, found a mention in a book that unofficially, withdrawal for eggs is 21 days. Since its not technically recommended for chickens there is no official withdrawal of course.

 

[Jillio]

Nearly all birds have depluming mites. It's one of those annoying issues that healthy birds learn to control. As a bird ages or becomes ill of health, their feathers become more and more raged.

You will know you have depluming mites if you look at the feathers and especially wing primaries and tail feathers and see horizontal barring across the feather. This is where the mites were feeding on the blood and newly growing feather as it was emerging during a molt.

These mites live up in the shaft of the feather nearly all of their lives and only come out of the shaft to find a new source of food. Once they have devoured a one feather, they briefly get onto the skin as they move on to the other feather, entering through the follicle.

They also bear live young, unlike other mites that lay eggs to reproduce. Young are born every 17 days.

When a bird has an over load of depluming mites, the feathers are irritating to the bird. The bird will preen and preen and over preen the feathers to the point of stripping off all feather material leaving just the shaft. It is common for a bird to chew feathers off right at skin level giving the appearance of very large areas of plucked bald spots, however on very close examination, you can see the stubs of the feather at skin. Along with bare spots on wing shoulders and legs, above the tail around the preen gland and the fuzz on the birds flanks are common areas to look completely bald of feathers. These large areas of bald skin will remain very red until the next molt and the feathers grow back in these areas.

Last year, I had a bird with a bad case of depluming mites. I tried all kinds of powders, sprays, bathing her in flea and tick dog shampoo, even tried NuStock, (main ingredient is Sulfur) however none of this worked. The only way I found to get this under control was Ivermectin Pour On for Cattle. I dosed this bird, a standard sized Barred Rock hen, with 6 drops on the back of the neck, on the skin only. I dosed her once a week for 6 weeks. I then gave her a month off to heal, I am sure this stuff is toxic used as I did. I gave her liquid vitamins and lots of probiotics, then a month later I repeated this dosage for another 6 weeks. Unfortunately she only mini molted herself out last fall, however all of her flanks, legs and breast grew in a very nice set of feathers. She has not pulled or chewed these off as she did last year. Since she did not molt out any primaries or tail feathers, I can't tell if she is over loaded with them anymore, but I suspect not, since she did not destroy these new feathers she molted in last fall like she did the previous year after her molt. She no longer over preens any of her feathers and she is even gentle when preening her stalks. LOL

Thanks for the helpful info, my flock has these are I'm trying to not pull my own hair out over it!!!

 

[Jillio]

Thanks... so helpful! I'm dealing with these right now in my whole flock and no one seems to have ever heard of them!!!

I'm starting this new thread in hopes of helping more hens and reaching out to stymied chicken owners. The original thread title is below and contains 8 pages of posts including photos.

Basically, if you have never seen a mite on your bird, yet it has broken off feathers or is being steadily deplumed from the the tail to the head, your bird might have mange. Someone on the previous thread posted the name of it which escapes me now. I am hoping my lengthy experience will help someone. There's just not enough information out there.

It's been about 4 years now for my poor chickens with the mites. I just wanted to give an update for whomever is interested or needs more information. This thread can be found under "Broken feathers mites if you are experiencing this please read."

1.Our hens were treated for mites (that I never saw) for 2 endless years. You name the product, I've tried it. No relief.
2. culled 15 hens who had mites, left 15 who didn't, to see if they'd get it anyway. (checking to see how it was spreading)
3. the ones who didn't have mites wound up getting them eventually.
4. treated with lime sulfur dip weekly and was terribly discouraged that it didn't seem to do anything.(but keep reading)
5. Made two separate flocks: the "older" girls who always had mites, and the "new" girls who never had them, in 2 separate coops.
6. the "older girls grew new feathers in the winter and now look beautiful! They've been mite-free for 6 months, hallelujah. These are the same hens who were dipped weekly.
7. the "new" girls (28 of them) now are the mangiest bunch of chickens you've ever seen. Sigh. The only contact they had with the other flock was the roosters fighting through the fence. But I did see Juncos in their feeders a lot. No mice like in the other coop.
8. I am convinced the LimePlus Dip from Dechra on Amazon is the key and am going to dip and re-dip all 44 birds next month when it warms up.
9. If you've never seen a mite, yet your chickens are being deplumed, I guarantee it's mange. SULFUR DIP MAY BE YOUR ANSWER.
Look back on previous posts in the above-mentioned thread and you will see photos I posted of how to dip the birds.
I am interested in hearing your stories, hopefully success stories! I'll get notified if you reply to this thread.

 

[hollyravenheart]

I'm starting this new thread in hopes of helping more hens and reaching out to stymied chicken owners. The original thread title is below and contains 8 pages of posts including photos.

Basically, if you have never seen a mite on your bird, yet it has broken off feathers or is being steadily deplumed from the the tail to the head, your bird might have mange. Someone on the previous thread posted the name of it which escapes me now. I am hoping my lengthy experience will help someone. There's just not enough information out there.

It's been about 4 years now for my poor chickens with the mites. I just wanted to give an update for whomever is interested or needs more information. This thread can be found under "Broken feathers mites if you are experiencing this please read."

1.Our hens were treated for mites (that I never saw) for 2 endless years. You name the product, I've tried it. No relief.
2. culled 15 hens who had mites, left 15 who didn't, to see if they'd get it anyway. (checking to see how it was spreading)
3. the ones who didn't have mites wound up getting them eventually.
4. treated with lime sulfur dip weekly and was terribly discouraged that it didn't seem to do anything.(but keep reading)
5. Made two separate flocks: the "older" girls who always had mites, and the "new" girls who never had them, in 2 separate coops.
6. the "older girls grew new feathers in the winter and now look beautiful! They've been mite-free for 6 months, hallelujah. These are the same hens who were dipped weekly.
7. the "new" girls (28 of them) now are the mangiest bunch of chickens you've ever seen. Sigh. The only contact they had with the other flock was the roosters fighting through the fence. But I did see Juncos in their feeders a lot. No mice like in the other coop.
8. I am convinced the LimePlus Dip from Dechra on Amazon is the key and am going to dip and re-dip all 44 birds next month when it warms up.
9. If you've never seen a mite, yet your chickens are being deplumed, I guarantee it's mange. SULFUR DIP MAY BE YOUR ANSWER.
Look back on previous posts in the above-mentioned thread and you will see photos I posted of how to dip the birds.
I am interested in hearing your stories, hopefully success stories! I'll get notified if you reply to this thread.

 

[hollyravenheart]

I think my chickens have depluming mites maybe the ducks too? I’m going to try Dechra lime sulfur dip. Thank you so much for taking the time to post! I will report back

 

[Wmaddox]

Not all my birds were effected either. The two birds that bunked next to her on the roost bar had some issues on their wing shoulders where she made contact with them, but the rest of my birds stayed fairly normal. But I can see evidence to some degree in all my birds...thin horizontal barring in the primaries and tail feathers and over preening. I think our wild birds carry these things and my birds pick them up while free ranging. Healthy birds usually can control them enough its not a huge deal and you dont see too much feather damage. Young and old birds are usuaslly most effected. My BR was about 7 months old when these mites began working on her.

I can’t figure out if these are depluming mites or feather mites. I saw one tiny bug in daytime on a paper towel I had hanging near roosts so I’m assuming not depluming . Although I don’t even know if it was a mite. They itch themselves with their beaks, have no sores or bald spots and one of mine looks like this. Only affecting wings and tail. I see no horizontal barring. Oddly this chicken did not molt during the winter, never stopped laying and has watery whites. If the mattered. Is this feather or depluming mites ?

 

[TwoCrows]

I can’t figure out if these are depluming mites or feather mites. I saw one tiny bug in daytime on a paper towel I had hanging near roosts so I’m assuming not depluming . Although I don’t even know if it was a mite. They itch themselves with their beaks, have no sores or bald spots and one of mine looks like this. Only affecting wings and tail. I see no horizontal barring. Oddly this chicken did not molt during the winter, never stopped laying and has watery whites. If the mattered. Is this feather or depluming mites ?

This looks like feather mites to me. Very difficult to get rid off, all birds have them to some degree. I did this...Ivermectin Pour On, 10 drops on the back of neck skin, once a week for a few weeks. Use Probiotics during and after to help boost the immune system. These feathers will look ratty until the bird molts in the fall. These mites live up in the feathers and come down to the skin only after consuming a feather, looking for another feather to consume. The Ivermectin will only kill these invisible pests when they get onto the skin. They don't lay eggs but give birth to live mites.