Feather loss with scabs, cursed Silkie

[BlindingZA]

The problem:

My Silkie has feather loss all over her body and scabs all over. First the scabs were big but she seemed to get allot better with new feathers emerging scabs gone.
I have noticed about a month ago she has new scabs and more feather loss.

Behavior:

Less than a year old, eats and drinks fine, weight and poop normal.

At a point she was stumbling backwards allot, I though it was because she like to sunbathe and being black when nearly featherless was sun issue. Her backward stumbling seems nearly gone.

Unfortunately she has been having this condition for over 6 months and there seems no end.

All my other birds are 100% fine. She had a sister who had similar issues but allot worse I had to put her down, that was about 4 months ago.

General environment:




They are free range in a very lush landscaped garden, only get fed every 2 days. Their coop has an opening they get in and out that is usually always open.

Currently I have a main hen with 3 chicks. This hen does pull feathers of anyone close to her chicks.
One healthy sister Silkie(had chicken lice, the reason for additional dusting for everyone)
And then this sick one.

My dog shares the back yard during the day, she ignores the chickens.


Current treatment:

She is confined alone in the Zozo(wooden garden hut) for the last 3 weeks.(chicken mesh at the door for fresh air)

She has food 24/7
Her water has been treated with SULPHAMEZATHINE 16% as precaution

She has also been dusted with karbadust recently as precaution.(note: I see no evidence of lice)

Should I confine her for few more weeks or just let her back out and hope for the best?
How long does feathers take to grow back?
Should I really.. consider killing her? Or am I just impatient? What is with this chicken?

 

[Stiggy]

the scabs loo like a horrible case of scaly mites, the type they can get on their face, it causes feather loss usually around the head and neck and then spreads. its very itchy for them and makes their skin all inflamed. make sure she has some dry soft dirt to bath in at all times as it will help to cure the itch without breaking the skin. next mix some cooking oil ( 250 ml) with one tablespoon of detol and 1 tablespoon of diesel and 1 cup of water. mix this together and shake it up then apply. if you make it to strong it will burn. if it appears to hurt or you don't have the above then use cooking oil and vasaline for the face/ legs. basically cover her in it and see if it works, it will need applying and checking daily, and will take a few weeks to a couple of months for the skin to shed and re grow. the skin that re grows will prob look nasty for a while until some newer layers come in. also if its cold she will need a jumper or something to keep her warm as without feathers she will freeze as they don't do well in the cold/ wet especially without feathers

 

[Senora Silkie]

The problem:

My Silkie has feather loss all over her body and scabs all over. First the scabs were big but she seemed to get allot better with new feathers emerging scabs gone.
I have noticed about a month ago she has new scabs and more feather loss.

Behavior:

Less than a year old, eats and drinks fine, weight and poop normal.

At a point she was stumbling backwards allot, I though it was because she like to sunbathe and being black when nearly featherless was sun issue. Her backward stumbling seems nearly gone.

Unfortunately she has been having this condition for over 6 months and there seems no end.

All my other birds are 100% fine. She had a sister who had similar issues but allot worse I had to put her down, that was about 4 months ago.

General environment:




They are free range in a very lush landscaped garden, only get fed every 2 days. Their coop has an opening they get in and out that is usually always open.

Currently I have a main hen with 3 chicks. This hen does pull feathers of anyone close to her chicks.
One healthy sister Silkie(had chicken lice, the reason for additional dusting for everyone)
And then this sick one.

My dog shares the back yard during the day, she ignores the chickens.


Current treatment:

She is confined alone in the Zozo(wooden garden hut) for the last 3 weeks.(chicken mesh at the door for fresh air)

She has food 24/7
Her water has been treated with SULPHAMEZATHINE 16% as precaution

She has also been dusted with karbadust recently as precaution.(note: I see no evidence of lice)

Should I confine her for few more weeks or just let her back out and hope for the best?
How long does feathers take to grow back?
Should I really.. consider killing her? Or am I just impatient? What is with this chicken?

Did she ever recover? What treatment did you use? One of my Silkies has a less severe case.

 

[Senora Silkie]

Did she ever recover? What treatment did you use? One of my Silkies has a less severe case.

I have been keeping Silkie chickens for 29 years, and have experienced many situations both happy and sad with them. This summer one of my Silkies had this problem. After extensive research I concluded that it was a form of Scabies which burrow into the skin and are extremely uncomfortable, probably similar to the human form of this condition. I persuaded my vet to give her an Ivermectin injection which was repeated after 15 days. In addition she was given a vitamin supplement and antibiotics. This was necessary because due to her weakened condition she had acquired some opportunistic infections. It has been a slow journey but the Scabies have gone, I clean her skin and have applied Fucidin which has the benefit of being a cream which will help the skin to heal and also to act as an antibiotic. I have had to clean her ears and her nose, and sometimes her eyes, but she is recovering. She is eating well, preening (not scratching) and her feathers are returning. It has probably been about a month and now her feathers are slowly regrowing. I anticipated having to give her special care for a while more because she has a lot of dry 'dandruffy' like skin which she is shedding. I apologize for the long post, but I was at my wits end and this is the first time that I have experienced anything like this. However, I hope that you find this information helpful. Please post if you would like any further information.