Crusty, scaly white on chick’s head

[jbellairs]

Our eight week old buff chick in the photos has a crusty scaly white all over its head. She has been different from the other four that hatched with her right from the start. She was much bigger than the rest, having the look and gait of a meat bird, even though we don’t have any in our flock. She can’t fly up on the roost, and has difficulty keeping up with the rest of the brood with her waddling walk.

She was injured a few weeks ago, with a big slice across the back of her neck. We put four stitches in to hold it together, sprayed it with Vetrycin, and left the stitches in for a week.

She is not growing well, and chicks that are five weeks younger are quickly catching up to her in size and the rest of the chicks in her brood are almost twice her size.

Any suggestions?

 

[staceyj]

Fungal ?

 

[coach723]

I'm guessing either fungal (favus) or scaly face mites. For fungal you can use an antifugal ointment (miconazole (Monistat), clotrimazole(Lotrimin), terbinafine(Lamisil) - all usually OTC. For scaly face mites usually ivermectin is recommended. Often with the face mites I see recommendations to supplement vitamin A also. Here is one link with a more holistic approach, you can search for many more with lots of information on both, with lots of pictures for comparison.
https://holistic-hen.blogspot.com/2018/01/scaly-face-mite-treatment-for-organic.html#.W9B3ZPZReUk

 

[jbellairs]

I'm guessing either fungal (favus) or scaly face mites. For fungal you can use an antifugal ointment (miconazole (Monistat), clotrimazole(Lotrimin), terbinafine(Lamisil) - all usually OTC. For scaly face mites usually ivermectin is recommended. Often with the face mites I see recommendations to supplement vitamin A also. Here is one link with a more holistic approach, you can search for many more with lots of information on both, with lots of pictures for comparison.
https://holistic-hen.blogspot.com/2018/01/scaly-face-mite-treatment-for-organic.html#.W9B3ZPZReUk

The holistic hen site had a lot of good information. I tried melting coconut oil and applying it to the white areas. The chick promptly started having seizures. Hopefully it helps. It took her a while to come around. I don’t know if it was worth all the stress to her. She is probably one that should have been put out of her misery a long time ago. I hate doing it though.

 

[coach723]

Sounds like there is definitely more going on with the chick, something is probably weakening the immune system allowing other things to get a hold. Certainly would not have expected seizures from applying some coconut oil. Best of luck, what ever you decide.