Help!!! Silkie infested with mites!

[HenHouse10C]

So I adopted a 5 month old silkie today (feeling a bit like a chicken rescue now!)... I go to examine her and she is absolutely COVERED head to toe in mites. Her head is covered in crusty things, I'm assuming eggs? I dusted her with a permethrin poultry dust. What else do I do? Poor thing I'm sure she's miserable! I have her in a dog crate away from my other birds. I put a large flat dish in there with dirt and more poultry dust so she can dust bathe in it. Please help!! Ugh my skin is crawling just thinking about it!

 

[Eggcessive]

You could be dealing with lice, but I am not positive. The good news is that permethrin spray or garden dust and sevin dust will treat both lice and mites. Mites are slow moving, and eggs will hatch every 5-7 days. Lice are fast moving, lay white clumps of eggs at the base of feathers, and need to be dusted every 10 days when eggs hatch. The coop and nest box bedding will also need to be emptied, coop and roosts sprayed, and bedding replaced. Here are some links to look at pictures of lice and mites:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ig140
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/08/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification.html
http://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8162.pdf
http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html
http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/laura_e_john/

 

[HenHouse10C]

Thanks for the info. After reading through the links you provided, it seems she has lice, and not mites. Oy. Any clue as to how long until she can join the flock? Should I pick the egg clumps off her feathers? She keeps shaking her head, I'm assuming from the bugs. I dusted her pretty well yesterday. I'll dust her again in 7-10 days.

You could be dealing with lice, but I am not positive. The good news is that permethrin spray or garden dust and sevin dust will treat both lice and mites. Mites are slow moving, and eggs will hatch every 5-7 days. Lice are fast moving, lay white clumps of eggs at the base of feathers, and need to be dusted every 10 days when eggs hatch. The coop and nest box bedding will also need to be emptied, coop and roosts sprayed, and bedding replaced. Here are some links to look at pictures of lice and mites:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ig140
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/08/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification.html
http://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8162.pdf
http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html
http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/laura_e_john/

 

[Eggcessive]

I would make sure all lice and eggs are gone before adding her to the flock. I know this from experience It only takes one chicken to infect the whole flock, and any of those can be hard to get rid of. Since she is separated, it will be much easier to get rid of them. This will also give you some time to quarantine her to make sure that she is not showing any signs of diseases. Thirty day quarantines are common. Some also will take a guinea pig chicken, and place them in with the new chicken for a few weeks to see if the "guinea pig" gets sick. Many respiratory diseases are spread by carriers that don't show symptoms, but can infect others within the first 12 weeks. Just some friendly advice. Some remove lice eggs with coconut oil.