Hardened lumps on tail feathers next to skin?

[kathyu]

I noticed one of my 4 chicken's butt was red. After further investigation, I saw hardened lumps on the feathers near her butt, next to the skin. One other chicken has this, and I saw a few small red tiny spidery looking things crawling around quickly. The lumps are circular around the quill (not sure if this is correct anatomical description) part next to the skin, about 1/4 inch in length-kind of white looking. It is very hard. Tried soaking in warm water bath per advise from friend, but after 5 minutes, didn't seem to loosen any. I have diatomaceous earth for worms/mites that I can apply. Any other advice?

 

[CMV]

Get an insecticide because your birds have lice and DE is not going to cut it.

This is going to be somewhat of a major process, but you need to do it all to achieve success in dealing with the problem at hand. You are going to need to treat all your birds with the insecticide of your choice. You are then going to need to completely clean out the coop. All bedding material must go. Once the coop is entirely empty you will need to treat the inside with the environmental insecticide of your choice. Put bedding back in, but lightly because it is all going to be removed again in 10 days. In the aforementioned 10 days you are going to need to do it all again- treat the birds, clean out the coop and treat the coop. The problem should be solved.

Bugs are a nuisance, but easy to rectify with a bunch of hard work. By the way, you don't need to remove the nits. They will all be killed during the second round of treatment. If they offend you you can loosen them up with mayonaise or coconut oil for removal with a fine comb. A lot of extra work for little reward, though. I would just learn to live with them until they are molted out or fall off on their own.

Good luck.

 

[kathyu]

Thank you CMV. It won't be too difficult to clean out the coop. It's pretty small and I only have 4 chickens right now. I haven't added new chickens since last spring. These chickens free range often, is that where the lice came from?

I haven't had to use an insecticide before. Do you have any suggestions? Are you saying the huge lump on the feather is a nit? I know when on people, the nit is very small and hard to see.

Thanks for the help.

 

[CMV]

Sevin dust is the quickest and most practical topical agent to deal with lice. You dust them using the foot of a pair of pantyhose, cut off and filled with the dust. Use it like a powder puff, concentrating on their vent and under their wings. And yes, the huge lumps are the nits. The fact that they are so big means this has been on on-going problem for a while. The lice were probably picked up from the environment during free-range. Wild birds often are infested with lice, so if you have a lot of wild birds around you are going to frequently be dealing with bugs.

I hope this process is as painless as possible for all of you. Bugs are such a pain...