Depluming mites vs fungal infection on skin

[Magnolia2016]

Help! My rooster and I have been battling whatever issue we have since the end of January 2023. Depluming mites were suggested at that time and I have literally treated with EVERYTHING! Elector PSP, dust, ivermectin pour on (did repeat treatment x2) and sulfur powder specifically labeled for depluming mites (repeat treatment x2. Skin still red and feather loss worse over time.
It was recently suggested that it looked fungal so i began using monostat cream twice daily. I did that for 4 days with no improvement so began banixx spray. I can say that his skin looks slightly less red.
Is there something else that I can try? 3 of his girls are beginning feathers loss on the front of their neck now! I’m at a loss! I’m including pictures from January and March for comparison. The pictures with the most feather loss are from march (and I had just applied monostat in those pictures ) NOTE: they all act normal.

 

[TropicalChickies]

Poor boy. It's great you care and are trying to help him. I know how frustrating it can be when you try a bunch of treatments and nothing seems to work.

Ive been having some success with one of my hens who has a chronic yeast infection we are battling and it caused a fungal infection on her skin. But her problem looks more like fauvus -- white flaky dandruff that smells like old cheese.

Does your rooster have a bad smell? Cheesy or like dirty socks (that would be yeast). If the smell is more astringent and rank, it would be bacteria and an iodine tea might help. One part iodine to 3 parts water applied to affected areas.

I've tried a few things on my hen, but have had the best results cleaning the affected areas with lather of sulphur soap (found it at the drugstore) and then dabbing it with ketocozonal cream every day.

Also I just noticed he is standing on what looks like wood chips. Old wood chips are a haven for all kinds of mites. Consider changing that out for sand mixed with a few scoops of agricultural lime (calcium carbonate) mixed in well, that mix has really helped me to keep the external parasite problem under control. But mix the lime in well with the sand and throw extra sand on top. Lime can be a respiratory irritant if the dust is just floating around.

 

[Eggcessive]

Have you considered this being feather picking? The products you have used are some of the best for lice or mites.

 

[Magnolia2016]

Poor boy. It's great you care and are trying to help him. I know how frustrating it can be when you try a bunch of treatments and nothing seems to work.

Ive been having some success with one of my hens who has a chronic yeast infection we are battling and it caused a fungal infection on her skin. But her problem looks more like fauvus -- white flaky dandruff that smells like old cheese.

Does your rooster have a bad smell? Cheesy or like dirty socks (that would be yeast). If the smell is more astringent and rank, it would be bacteria and an iodine tea might help. One part iodine to 3 parts water applied to affected areas.

I've tried a few things on my hen, but have had the best results cleaning the affected areas with lather of sulphur soap (found it at the drugstore) and then dabbing it with ketocozonal cream every day.

Also I just noticed he is standing on what looks like wood chips. Old wood chips are a haven for all kinds of mites. Consider changing that out for sand mixed with a few scoops of agricultural lime (calcium carbonate) mixed in well, that mix has really helped me to keep the external parasite problem under control. But mix the lime in well with the sand and throw extra sand on top. Lime can be a respiratory irritant if the dust is just floating around.

The wood chips are very new secondary to the rains to keep me from slipping . I also regularly rake and treat the run with first Saturday lime and rake the wood chips back over the area after spraying them with permethrin spray . Here is a picture from this morning with one of his girls that just started losing neck feathers.

 

[Magnolia2016]

Have you considered this being feather picking? The products you have used are some of the best for lice or mites.

I have considered that because I have seen pin feathers coming in only to disappear again. I work from home so I have the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time with them and have not seen much feather picking .

 

[007Sean]

From the pictures provided, it looks like scaly leg mites and face mites. All the treatments you have tried, should have gotten rid of the mites....idk, I know mites have been building up resistance to various chemicals, such as pyrethrin but the sulphur drugs should be having an effect on them?

I'd try petroleum jelly on his legs, it will suffocate the mites, might take quite awhile (many applications) before you see any results.

 

[Magnolia2016]

He’s a BCM and should have feathered legs but never really has had much leg feathering. His leg scales aren’t really lifted but I’ll definitely try that. He’s such a good boy! I have seen so many be successful with Elector PSP so I’m shocked it didn’t do the trick. I may try that again as well.

 

[Shadrach]

I appreciate you are doing what you think is best on the information you have, but the solution is to find the mites if that is in fact what is causing this.
Even feather mites that live in the feather shafts can be seen with adequate magnification.

Get yourself a jewlers magnifying glass. 40x/60x magnification should be fine and carefully inspect her for mites.

This hen has a similar problem. She doesn't have mites. It seems from what I've observed that when the feather quills start to grow, she or others hens pull them out. This hen has feathering problems in general. She an Ex Battery hen.

Looking at your rooster the sites where he has problems are prime feather picking sites.
From my non expert experience feather/quill picking is usually carried out once they have gone to roost.

If you can't find any mites then you are left with feather picking either by the rooster or other flock members.
An anti peck cream applied before roost time might help.

 

[Magnolia2016]

I appreciate you are doing what you think is best on the information you have, but the solution is to find the mites if that is in fact what is causing this.
Even feather mites that live in the feather shafts can be seen with adequate magnification.

Get yourself a jewlers magnifying glass. 40x/60x magnification should be fine and carefully inspect her for mites.

This hen has a similar problem. She doesn't have mites. It seems from what I've observed that when the feather quills start to grow, she or others hens pull them out. This hen has feathering problems in general. She an Ex Battery hen.
View attachment 3450091

Looking at your rooster the sites where he has problems are prime feather picking sites.
From my non expert experience feather/quill picking is usually carried out once they have gone to roost.

If you can't find any mites then you are left with feather picking either by the rooster or other flock members.
An anti peck cream applied before roost time might help.

Is there a specific one that you can recommend?

 

[Shadrach]

I'm afraid I don't know what's available where you live and what I might use in extreme cases is probalby not what anyone else would advise.
There are a couple of options you can try if you are concerend that there may be open sores that could get infected.
You could make him a neck tube; something like an elasticated bandage that can be secured. It doesn't need to be tight. It just has to prevent beak contact with the skin.
You could isolate him at night from the rest of your chickens in the event that it is they who are plucking feathers and not him. However, this is likely to stress him and that might lead to further complications.

If you discover that it is some kind of mite, like some relative of the scabies mite then a double dose of Ivermectin may solve the problem. You would need to do this at least twice to deal with any eggs that hatch.

If it is an allergic reaction or a fungal infection then only a really good avian vet is going to know how to treat it. Avian vets with this level of knowledge are few and far between.

Calandula cream can help to reduce the raw skin look.

I've used this for wounds and anti pecking but only for critical cases where a wound has needed to be sealed in order to prevent infection. I haven't used it as an anti peck measure although I have read on this forum people using Pine Tar to discourage pecking.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...s-and-injuries-with-stockholm-hoof-tar.74400/