Help! mites and chicken uneasy on feet

[PennyChook]

Hi,

My 4-year-old hen has recently contracted mites/fleas. I've been trying to get rid of them using a garlic juice solution that I came across online; They have definitely gone down in numbers but I haven't eradicated them completely as of yet! She also seems to be the only one out of my 6 other chickens that has them.
However, my main concern is that just before I found the mites/fleas I noticed that she wasn't eating as much and whenever she did go to put her head down to eat she would become dizzy on her feet or it would look like she would lose her balance and have to use her wings to regain composure. Because of this she normally just lays down in the sun and won't come up to eat unless food is brought to her. She has lost a considerable amount of weight and no matter what I do I cant seem to find out what is wrong with her. I can't see any cuts or lesions on her anywhere so I don't think she has hurt herself so I'm not sure if this is because of the whole mite situation or if she has something more serious going on.

Any help would be very much appreciated!

 

[azygous]

Garlic juice isn't going to do the job. There is a product that will kill the parasites and not harm your chickens. You can findit in most feed stores and even Walmart. It's called Permethrin Poultry Dusting powder. A can of the powder costs about ten dollars if you are in the US.

The first step, though, is to identify what the bugs are. They are hopefully only lice. Those are relatively harmless and don't eat your chickens, just their dandruff. If the chickens have mites, that's much more serious, and mites are much more difficult to get rid of. Mites can suck the blood out of your chickens and cause serious health problems. Your listless hen may have mites and she may be anemic.

Find a magnifying lens. You can buy one cheap where they sell note paper and pens. Pick a bug or two off your chickens and place them on some note paper. Then look at them under magnification and count the legs on one of the bugs. If there are six legs, it's a louse (singular for lice). If there are eight legs, it's a mite, and this could be why your hen is having issues.

For right now, try giving this hen some warm sugar water, a teaspoon of sugar to one cup of warm water. Let her drink it in place of plain water for the next two days. This should give her energy to eat. It would help the hen if you would buy some Poultry Nutri-drench and give that to her for a week to build her back up. You can find it at the feed store or online. Amazon has it. Give her boiled egg to eat each day for a week. This can build her nutrients back up if mites have sucked them out of her.

 

[PennyChook]

Garlic juice isn't going to do the job. There is a product that will kill the parasites and not harm your chickens. You can findit in most feed stores and even Walmart. It's called Permethrin Poultry Dusting powder. A can of the powder costs about ten dollars if you are in the US.

The first step, though, is to identify what the bugs are. They are hopefully only lice. Those are relatively harmless and don't eat your chickens, just their dandruff. If the chickens have mites, that's much more serious, and mites are much more difficult to get rid of. Mites can suck the blood out of your chickens and cause serious health problems. Your listless hen may have mites and she may be anemic.

Find a magnifying lens. You can buy one cheap where they sell note paper and pens. Pick a bug or two off your chickens and place them on some note paper. Then look at them under magnification and count the legs on one of the bugs. If there are six legs, it's a louse (singular for lice). If there are eight legs, it's a mite, and this could be why your hen is having issues.

For right now, try giving this hen some warm sugar water, a teaspoon of sugar to one cup of warm water. Let her drink it in place of plain water for the next two days. This should give her energy to eat. It would help the hen if you would buy some Poultry Nutri-drench and give that to her for a week to build her back up. You can find it at the feed store or online. Amazon has it. Give her boiled egg to eat each day for a week. This can build her nutrients back up if mites have sucked them out of her.

Firstly, thank you for such a fast response, it is greatly appreciated! I am in Australia but I will go to my local feed shop after work today and see if we have poultry dust that is similar. I think it potentially will be mites as the photos on the internet do look very similar as the ones she has are reddish in colour but I will double-check as you suggested.

I'll separate her for the meantime and try to get her to eat and drink.

Thanks again

 

[azygous]

If it does turn out to be mites, the coop will also need to be treated, and dusting powder will be inadequate to the job as mites secret themselves deep in cracks and crevices during the day. They usually come out at night and crawl on the chickens, sucking their blood. One way to determine if you have mites, go out to the coop after dark and wipe a damp rag over the roosts. If it comes away smeared with red, your coop is infested with coop mites.

Another product called spinosad is great at killing mites in coops. But you may run into trouble finding it it Australia. It's like permethrin in that it's a natural product and won't harm chickens. You might be able to find it at a garden supply, but be sure it doesn't contain any petroleum distillates as those would make the product toxic to chickens.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Firstly, thank you for such a fast response, it is greatly appreciated! I am in Australia but I will go to my local feed shop after work today and see if we have poultry dust that is similar. I think it potentially will be mites as the photos on the internet do look very similar as the ones she has are reddish in colour but I will double-check as you suggested.

I'll separate her for the meantime and try to get her to eat and drink.

Thanks again

If you can't find Permethrin dust/spray or Spinosad (Elector PSP), then see if you can get Pestene Insect Powder. I think this may be what you have available in AU, but your feed store should know more.

 

[PennyChook]

Awesome thanks so much. I managed to find a poultry dust at my stock feeders and have since put some on her. I’ve also given her meal worms, an egg and some chicken vitamin water.

 

[azygous]

Don't forget the sugar water. Glucose is essential when treating a weak chicken.

 

[PennyChook]

Don't forget the sugar water. Glucose is essential when treating a weak chicken.

Okay will do that now also