HELP! My hen is falling over and has small bugs

[3pitlove]

Today I noticed my approximately year old Brahma hen a little lethargic. I didn't think much of it since she is a bit if a loner (bottom of pecking order). This afternoon I then found her covered in mud-pretty much head to toe while everyone else seemed clean. She seems unsteady on her feet. I cleaned her feet up to be sure she didn't have any cuts-didn't see anything. I also noticed tiny bugs near/in her vent area. They are very small and whiteish in color. I left her inside my garage as I wanted to keep her separate from my other girls and to be sure she is warm since she is damp and dirty from the mud.
When I got home from work I've noticed she seems worse-falling forward with her tail sticking up. I still see the small bugs/mites/lice but can't pinpoint what they are. They are almost too small to see by the naked eye except when they move. Is there a link between these bugs and my hen falling over? Does anyone have any idea what could be going in with her? Recommendations?

 

[Judy]

She has an infestation of lice and/or mites and needs treatment. It is definitely possible that she is so weakened by them that they are causing this behavior; some species suck blood and cause anemia, and can even cause death. You need to treat the coop and whole flock as it is unlikely she is the only one with bugs. Change the litter. Repeat the process in 10 days to kill the eggs which will have hatched and won't be killed by the first treatment. I prefer Sevin 5% garden dust, as a dust on the birds, and the liquid form to spray in cracks in the coop. Be sure to get the underside of the roosts. There are other chemicals that are effective.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/818674/are-these-some-kind-of-egg-clusters/0_20#post_11897957

 

[Sarevan]

A hen that we got was heavily infested with lice, she was thin and started acting like your hen 24hrs after we got her. She may have been trying to dust mud bathe to relieve her problem. We dusted her and the roo with Sevin dust, careful around the head. I tube fed her some food and water for 2 days, she recovered. We also cleaned and dusted the whole area they were in.

As we had been going between them and our girls, they also got treated. We didn't want to chance that bugs got transferred to them on the work boots or coats as we held them against us. We also had the feeling of being itchy after seeing the bugs. I hate mites/lice on any animal or human makes my skin crawl.

Other thing we did for the buggy birds was to increase the protein of feed, mixed in vitamins in water, made a mash of the feed with probiotic water, to get them healthy, gain back weight, and feather loss. They are both doing well now.

Hope you have luck getting rid of them quickly and she recovers fast.

 

[dawg53]

Here's a link with pics to help you identify what external parasites you're dealing with, use a magnifying glass:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ig140

 

[Judy]

Here's a link with pics to help you identify what external parasites you're dealing with, use a magnifying glass:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ig140

Wow, great link! Much more up to date on treatments than the one I posted, and much better pics.