Bugs on my chickens

[Mysto]

I just brought one hen in from the coop - she was laying down on the floor - the others are on the roost. She looked dehydrated (comb 'dry' in appearance and flopped over vs standing up as usual). Couldn't get her to drink, but noticed very tiny bugs in her feathers. Was hard to tell if the bugs even had legs, but they were moving through her feathers - they appeared to be long and a dark grey in color. Is this mites??

 

[shelleyd2008]

Probably either mites or lice, I don't know what the difference is. Either of these pests can cause internal parrasites (aka worms), which is probably why your girl is so sick.

 

[Mysto]

oh no....do you know how to treat either/all? I wonder if I should lock them out of the coop tomorrow until I can treat it/them...that would be all day (8am-5PM) though??

 

[shelleyd2008]

You'll need to treat the coop as well. I have read on here that sevin dust (like you would use on your garden) works well to rid the birds and coop of lice and mites.

As for worms, let me find my info I copied from someone else's post on here. brb

worming is simple but you have to decide how you want to worm the group of chicks

first how old are they?
HERE IS WHAT I WOULD DO
(1) is wazine for round worms
(2) is the Ivermectin for other worms ezcept tape worms
(3) is the using Diatomaceous Earth DE in the feed daily
(4) herbal wormer is cayanne pepper in the feed daily
so read this carefully
FIRST WORM WITH WAZINE either kind

NUMBER ONE WORMING
(1) by worming for round worms only that will get most of the round worms
which is enough o kill off at first
the chickens body will use the dead worms as protein and it will then need to wait 10 days to worm for other worms

here is some thoughts on worming from my friend Nathalie Ross

(2)Often vets recommend a routine worming program to kill
worms not found. Worms aren't always shed into the fecal matter, nor
are their eggs, but that doesn't mean they aren't up there chowing down
on your birds' food in the gut and leaving scars which make it harder
for the birds to digest feed in the future.

(3 worms
So, think about a twice a year worming program. My personal program is
to worm in the fall with Ivermectin, in the spring with either
Ivermectin or another BROAD spectrum medication like tramisol or worm-ex.
Note: I didn't mention piperazine. Piperazine is a one-worm wormer

- NUMBER ONE WORMING WITH WAZINE

(4) rounds only. You'll want to use it for your very first worming to decrease
the parasite loads (which are undetectable unless they're really very
heavy) to prevent the possibility of the bird going into anaphylactic
shock or being blocked. These two last dreadful things can happen if
there are parasites up there you don't know about, and you use a
super-wormer (like the 2 mentioned above) which kill everything all at once. So
do piperazine ( wazine is same medicine)the first time, or with new birds with unknown histories,
then use the super-wormers from then on.

Glenda L Heywood says this

NUMBER TWO WORMING IVERMECTIN

(5) Worming chickens..........ivomec kinds
Ivomec 1% is water soluable and injectable, fast
release and needs lowing down going thru the gut. that
is why they use proplene glycol 3 drops to 1 drop of
ivemec 1%.
5% pour on is oil based and only used on shoulder of
the bird in drops. Slow release going into the
body
Something I noticed when comparing labels is that
Ivermectin Pour-On( 5%) kills both sucking & biting lice
whereas Ivermectin Injectable(1%) kills sucking lice but
not biting lice.

The words that people can't eat the eggs after worming is this:
It just means that the eggs can't be used for 10 days
A friend of mine Nathalie Ross gave this infoon using Ivermectin


If you go with Ivermectin injectable, you'll also need to buy propylene glycol to use with the injectable.
By the time you do this, you've spent the same amount of money as the pour on with what I feel isn't the
same level of effectiveness honestly, but some
people have access to injectable and not pour on so it's an option.

For the pour on Ivermectin (not Eprinex) the dosage I
use is as follows:
1 drop - OEGB sized small bantam female
2 drops - OEGB sized small bantam male
3 drops - average bantams
4 drops - large bantams, small commercial fowl
5 drops - most commercial fowl, small giant hens
6 drops - giant breeds of chicken

I always use a 3 cc syringe that I just fill to about
2 cc's with a 20 gauge needle. The needle WON'T be injected into the chicken, but does make it easier to dispense a controlled correct sized drop. It also is easier to get in there between the feathers.

For location, you'll want to find an easy to reach
spot with as little fluff as possible. I've had the
best luck with the back of the neck when I am by myself.

I just pick up the chicken in my left
hand, ruffle around the feathers with my right hand until I find a nice clear spot, then rotate the syringe around to dispense the drops exactly on the skin.

If you hit the fluff, it will soak in before
you can do anything and will be wasted. That stuff soaks in like lightening (which I discovered to my horror when I accidently got about 1 cc of it on me from the bottle - I'm worm free now!)
after giving Ivermectin.

Do the throwing of the eggs away for 10 days and then the medication will be out of the gut of the chickens

But at least you would rid the chickens of the worms which are eating 90% of the chickens daily feed!

they will be better off by getting the Chemical wormer first ( I would give wazine first then in 10 days the ivermectin)
so the chickens body can be rid of the adult round worms and then the other worms from Iermectin

It will cause a less poisonous effect on the gut of the chickens. If not having been wormed before the killing of the round worms is enough for first time then in 19 days worm with Ivermectin

If after worming you want to get what adults are in the gut of the chickens you can put 2% of daily feed by giving DE

The chemical wormer goes into the blood stream and the DE worms by knicking the soft worms skin and they die of dehydration
so the chickens are covered both ways

NUMBER THREE WORMING DIATOMACEOUS EARTH

(6) Herbal way to worm I would do this when you finish worming with the other two ways

Worming chickens..........Okay the reason I believe in using a chemical wormer first is that they get to the blood stream and the kill off the worm larvea

then you can fee the DE with 20% of DE to 80% feed
for the amt you feed daily

DIATOMACEOUS EARTH
as the DE goes thru the gut and the diadems (which are fossil shells from the sea beds)
they knick the adult soft skined worms and the dehydrate and the chickens body uses the dead worms as protein

then the DE comes out in the chicken manure and the flies light on it and are knicked and killed

so it does doble duty

then you can use a herbal wormer like cayanne pepper

NUMBER FOUR WORMING HERBAL WITH CAYANNE PEPPER

(7) with that said
really if going with a herbal wormer
I would use cayanne pepper
as pumpkin seed doesn't get that amt of worms

feed crumbles 1 gallon
3 tbsp of cayanne pepper feed for 2 weeks
then feed it for life as it will worm them generally right along

also the cayanne pepper kills the coccidiosis germs

so that will keep your flock healthy

 

[shelleyd2008]

You should do something now to get rid of the bugs, idk what you could use. Try giving her a bath and see if that helps.

 

[Mysto]

wow...that is a lot of great info - THANK YOU! I read through most of it....will read again, but I see that you suggest giving her a bath NOW, so I'll try that. It's late (10PM) so I can't treat the coop tonight. I saw some other posts that suggest salt water bath and then Dawn dish drop bath. I will go seeif that helps her.

Thanks again!!!!

 

[shelleyd2008]

I can't take credit for it, I was researching about worming and found that myself. I just saved it in Word on my desktop for easy access. I hope your hen gets better! I had a young chick (>2 days) that was covered with some kind of bug that bounced back after I got most of them off. They are blood-suckers, so they can cause some serious damage if there are a lot of them. Just like excessive fleas or ticks on dogs

Causes anemia and weakness, and eventually death.

Good luck with your girl

 

[Mysto]

thank you so much. i feel bad that I only post if i have a problem with my girls, but everybody is so great on this forum!

I gave her a warm salt water bath, dried her as best i could with a towel, then wrapped her in another dry one and put her in a box for the night.

I hope that she does OK tonight...and will address the others + coop tomorrow.

thanks shelleyd2008...have a good night