Itchy Face, Sneeze, Disheveled Feathers, please help me help my girls!

[PDXModChick]

My ladies are 6 weeks old. I bought them from a local feed store, WILCO. I have four breeds; Rhode Island Red (5 ladies), Barred Rock (3 ladies one cheeky rooster), Black Sex Link (5 ladies), and California White (2 ladies).

About a week ago I started to let them out of the coop for about an hour a day. I have been giving them treats for about two weeks, mostly kale, cabbage, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, and just recently corn. After I gave them the corn some of them started to sneeze. I raised the heat in the coop and most of the sneezing has gone away.

But while I was freaking out about them being sick I started to notice that many of my girls's feathers have been not as pretty, like they are scrathcing them or biting them. little chunks out of thier feathers. There has also been some minor feather loss. I inspected thier feathers and there does not appear to be any evidence of lice or mites that I can see. Thier tails are drooping a bit as well but pick up when they are outside running around and checking for bugs, etc.

They are eating is normal.

My rooster and a couple of the girls have been scrathcing thier faces a lot. He has scratched a pink spot on one side of his face near his eye. But otherwise he has been super healthly, just as mischevious as normal.

I stopped by our local feed shop and she said they may have a cold, lice and minor dehydration. I have been adding electrolytes to thier water and I picked up the powder for antibiotic and lice.

I read the label on the lice powder and it totally freaked me out and I am not comfortable using it. She said the antibiotic will not be of much use, but to keep it on hand for my first aid kit.

Now for my questions.

What should I do about my rooster (his name is Curly) and his face?

What can I do about the sneezing? Is there any natural remedy that I can give them? A "chicken soup" of sorts? Anythig that can help them feel better?

Is there something I can use that will help them with thier itching? I read something about diatomaceous earth. Does it work or at least help?

Finally thier feather loss and drooping. What can that be?

I haven't taken them to the vet because they all have something different, no one has all of the symptoms I listed above, and all are eating well and behaving pretty normal.

Thank you in advance for any advise you can lend. My ladies will love you!

 

[purpletree23]

I'm pretty sure they have lice. The lice are making them miserable so they won't eat and their feathers look horrible. You have to treat them and empty out the coop and thoroughly clean it. I'm sorry to tell you this but they can die from lice infestation and it wouldn't be an easy death for them.

 

[ZooMummzy]

Quote:
I have this same problem but mine are year old hens. I have been noticing a problem for awhile now but seriously thought they were molting because they have never done that. We just moved them to a new coop and the little ones we added are not having a problem...yet. I have inspected them all completely and see nothing crawling on them...nothing white, nothing brown, gray, etc. Their feathers are just breaking off. They are still eating and laying just fine and acting normal except they look awful. They aren't even scratching themselves much.

How do you treat lice?? Will ivermectin work? I already use DE and clean a lot.

 

[purpletree23]

How are the feathers breaking off? If the hens are doing it to themselves then I would be pretty sure they have lice. Check for a dirty looking vent and what looks like dirt at the base of some feathers. If the infestation is bad I would us a dip. It would take care of mites and lice but you have to dip them again in 11 days I believe.

 

[ZooMummzy]

Quote:
Ok thank you. A couple of them do have dirty vents. What do I dip them in?

 

[dlhunicorn]

About a week ago I started to let them out of the coop for about an hour a day. I have been giving them treats for about two weeks, mostly kale, cabbage, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, and just recently corn. After I gave them the corn some of them started to sneeze. I raised the heat in the coop and most of the sneezing has gone away.

But while I was freaking out about them being sick I started to notice that many of my girls's feathers have been not as pretty, like they are scrathcing them or biting them. little chunks out of thier feathers. There has also been some minor feather loss. I inspected thier feathers and there does not appear to be any evidence of lice or mites that I can see. Thier tails are drooping a bit as well but pick up when they are outside running around and checking for bugs, etc.

Stop giving them those "treats" ... they are too young and it is "diluting" the nutritional quality of their age appropriate feed (which I hope is the medicated starter) > When birds get a METHIONINE deficiency (a specific amino acid =protein) then they will eat feathers and this could very well be what is happening here. You should probably give a supplement (I reccommend aviaCharge 2000 available from McMurry or strombergs> you can order it online) > offer them a live culture yogurt daily> add a cooked eggyolk through their feed and on occasion some sunflower hearts. If you are unable to order the AviaCharge then look at your petstore in the BIRD section for a supplement specifically for feathering or molting and check the ingredients to ensure it has METHIONINE listed and give them that .​

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
Stop giving them those "treats" ... they are too young and it is "diluting" the nutritional quality of their age appropriate feed (which I hope is the medicated starter) > When birds get a METHIONINE deficiency (a specific amino acid =protein) then they will eat feathers and this could very well be what is happening here. You should probably give a supplement (I reccommend aviaCharge 2000 available from McMurry or strombergs> you can order it online) > offer them a live culture yogurt daily> add a cooked eggyolk through their feed and on occasion some sunflower hearts. If you are unable to order the AviaCharge then look at your petstore in the BIRD section for a supplement specifically for feathering or molting and check the ingredients to ensure it has METHIONINE listed and give them that .

I completely agree. Were they my birds, I'd follow this advice.

I'd like to add that many types of mites only come on the birds at night; you won't see them in the day. They live in the cracks of the coop/barn and in the bedding until night time and then they feed. If you check again (and I highly recommend it because of the facial scratching), check at night (light on is ok once you get out there) with a flashlight and a light sheet or pillowcase under them. Look very carefully particularly near the vent and the back of the neck. Mites don't necessarily lay their eggs on the birds - they do so in the cracks of the premises. So they're tricky to catch unless you just have tons of them.

Lice are easier to see as they don't stray from their host if possible.

Dirty vents also say 'parasites' to me. But then again with a deficiency, they get stressed and need probiotics then (as dlhunicorn recommended) as well.

As for using DE - some people swear by it as a help-meet in preventing huge blooms of parasites. However, if it's mites, eggs can hatch withing 48 hours in big numbers. It just takes one wild bird to bring it in. In cases of infestation, you must treat. I like DE for dust bathing, however.

If you choose ivermectin, make sure that your flock is unlikely to be carrying heavy parasite load. There are worms of the crop, throat, and intestine which - if heavily infesting the bird - can clog the bird as their dead bodies exit or are coughed up out of the bird. The high number of dead parasites in a bird can cause a sort of anaphylactic shock, like a reaction to foreign proteins (which the now-dead parasites become to the body).

So I feel it's best to treat with a less broad spectrum wormer first - then do ivermectin as your follow up.

With my birds, new birds get wazine (piperazine) and then get ivermectin 2 weeks later. I love the drop-on as it's cheap (generic was under 25 dollars and lasts ages), and you only use 1-5 drops per bird depending on their size. One drop soaks into them like mad. Withdrawal is 14 days for cattle. It's said to have a 14-28 day period of effectiveness in cattle for sucking lice. One could assume or hope that it would be similar in birds.

You can also use injectable orally, but I feel that it moves through the system too quickly to be absorbed *most* effectively. I still would prefer it over most other broad spectrum wormers and no other wormers kill ectoparasites.

So there's some food for thought to add to dlh's very very true post.

I would consider treating the premises anyway for mites/lice. Be sure to mix the poultry dust with water and paint whatever you can with it like a white wash. Thinly.

 

[PDXModChick]

Thank you so much for all of your advice! The ladies seem to be doing better now that I have stopped treats and started feeding plain yogurt. I also set up a dust bath outside, which they absolutley love, it seems to have cut down on the itching while cooling them down in our 90+ degree weather.

I have another question. How much yogurt am I supposed to feed them? And do you have any advice on how to keep the mess down? I have given it to them the past two days and I tend to get some yogurt sprinkled chickens.

I have checked them in the dark and inspected their skin and feathers, no sign of bugs, but I see some dandruff like specks on a couple of them in the morning. I will use the poultry dust and whitewash the coop anyway and wash everything change bedding etc... Their vents are fine, I have been checking them all and no one has any irritation or pasting, etc...

They haven't been sneezing much, I actually think I know what was causing that. I am a smoker (I don't smoke near them) but I think they smell it on me when they are close to me and they sneeze. I'll wash up better before heading out to see them.

Thank you so much for your help! I will keep you posted.

Steph

 

[dlhunicorn]

I feed my birds on a paved porch (which get cleaned every evening)... can you get ahold of any pavement stones (the big ole square ones they use to make sidewalks with) or such (Or perhaps just pour some cement > wouldnt have to be very thick) in a corner of your run? mine wipe the beaks regularly on the cement so never need beak trimming and it is sooooo much easier to clean up (I honestly dont know how ppl deal with all the spilled feed on any other surface)
As for the yogurt > depends on how many birds you have ... I have thirteen (I give daily) and offer them a cereal bowl full free choice (if it is really hot in the summer I freeze in one cup portions and then put it out for them to peck on sometimes as a cool treat or sometimes divy it up and put a half cup or so as a dollop on top of their feed in the early morning or evening , but I feed them in a big ole shallow bowl I have in the middle of a huge square metal plate (from a brbque originally) to catch anything they scratch out)
Just depends on your particular circumstances.

 

[threehorses]

I had forgotten how much they love to cool themselves in dirt. Our chickens seem to be half-buried perpetually in the summer! You'd think we were raising a special stock of legless dirt chickens - or growing them like a crop.

On mine, I usually recommend a teaspoon a day for treating so people get a round-about idea of how much to at least give. A small cereal bowl for a dozen would certainly work, as dhl said.

I don't give mine daily (much to the disappointment of my birds), but less often, and about in the same amount.

And as for mess - my problem is more getting the little heathens off of me as I *try* to get the yogurt near them. Mine will literally swarm me when they see the yogurt coming. Then I have to worry more abotu the mess on me. They clean the specks off of themselves on their own.

It's good news to hear that they're doing better, and that you see no signs of the bugs. Perhaps the sneezing is from the smoke smelling? hmm

But treating the premises and then would be a nice help - should be interesting to see if they improve - with the feather-building support nutrition of course.