Head shaking

[WandaFuca]

My 2 year old Wyanndotte hen is looking sickly (laying down with her head pulled in) and every few seconds she shakes her head. Mites? None of the other 10 chickens look ill. They eat an organic layer mix. Any ideas?

 

[chkn]

I've had a lot of the head shaking this year. I think they might be ear mites or depluming mites. I use Ivermectin but it doesn't work for these so I've been spraying a little Adams Plus Flea and Tick Spray on the ears, earlobes and underneath wattles. I cover up the eyes to do around the ears. Then I'd use sevin dust all over. I do this in addition to Ivermectin but don't use Ivermectin unless you've done so before or you've had them on some type of worming program. Use Valbazen first for that then follow up later with Ivermectin. I also spray the legs with the Adams Plus Flea and Tick Spray to get the scaley legs. Sometimes I use Scarlet Oil or other types of oil for that though too. You just have to hit it from all angles. I'll also take a q-tip with some of the spray and apply it around their eyes and comb. Depending on how affected the hen is with these mites, they might really shake their heads for a minute once applied!!! Oh, that really did the trick for one of my more mite troubled hens. Oh, she looks so much better now!!

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
I recommend that you visually inspect her for lice/mites. You can see lice crawling on her, mites are much slower and kinda looks like pepper. Check around the vent area. Ear mites can cause head shaking, your hen would be scratching her ears as well. You can look in her ears for the 'black pepper,' indicating mites. A couple of drops of vegetable oil from an eyedropper will smother the mites if they're in her ears. Use sevin dust to kill lice/mites anywhere else on her and repeat dusting again in 10 days. Dust her coop the same way to stop reinfestation. If there is wax coming from her ears, it could be a respiratory infection.