Last call for Penny the Pekin with mystery skin ailment

[Miss Lydia]

My chicken had the blk mites and they are not that easy to see they are tiny and fast. I found out mine had them from picking up one of my hens next I feel something crawling on my head go into the bath room use a comb and little tee tiny bugs fall out in the sink. A good head washing took care of them then I took all bedding out of the coop and carried it far from the property sprayed the coop out with neem oil then used poultry dust on my flock I put the dust into a bag stuck the chicken into it feet first closed the bag up around the neck and shook the bag to get the dust all over the body. Put in new bedding. Like was mentioned every nook and crevice has to be sprayed. Including under roots if chickens are in this house too.

 

[ShannonR]

Thanks for those ideas duck loving friends! I will let you know when I hear back from the vet. I read that there are two main types of mites that affect ducks - the chicken mite, which is red, and the northern fowl mite, which is black. Does anyone know whether the treatment would be the same, or would it be different depending on what type it would be. I read that the NFM shows evidence near the vent, and did not find that this morning when I looked. Looked through their bedding and didn't see anything either. Interestingly, she came out this morning with egg yolk all over her belly and I felt in the nesting box and the ground was all sticky there, with a small piece of soft shell egg just outside the box. There was also a complete soft shell egg laid yesterday afternoon in the run.The other ducks laid their eggs outside the box this morning.

You should check their sleeping quarters, with a flashlight, at night. Pick the birds up and examine them after dark. Some mite infestations, they don't live on the birds, they act more like bedbugs... They reside in the coop and only attack at night.

Parasites would be far and away my first guess.

 

[CoriM]

@Mandrogora Wow, those are so tiny. My ducks do sleep in a coop at night. How do they even contract these mites? The coop was brand new this summer when they moved in, and all the ducks were just born this summer. I will be looking for the treatment and will give it a shot! Penny had a new spot of blood this morning, and it was pencil eraser size. the rest of the skin goes back and forth from being raw and red looking, to scabby and black - maybe this is dried blood.

 

[ShannonR]

@Mandrogora Wow, those are so tiny. My ducks do sleep in a coop at night. How do they even contract these mites? The coop was brand new this summer when they moved in, and all the ducks were just born this summer. I will be looking for the treatment and will give it a shot! Penny had a new spot of blood this morning, and it was pencil eraser size. the rest of the skin goes back and forth from being raw and red looking, to scabby and black - maybe this is dried blood.

Do your ducks have contact with any chickens? How about wild birds? The where and how can often be a mystery. But, it doesn't change the outcome.

 

[CoriM]

@ShannonR My ducks have no contact with chickens or wild birds.

 

[KaleIAm]

@ShannonR My ducks have no contact with chickens or wild birds.

Wild birds could fly by and drop mites near your ducks?

 

[CoriM]

I guess that's possible. My ducks forage in my backyard for a couple hours every day. I'm sure little birds also come in my yard now and then. Just seems like it would be unlikely to get them that way.

 

[KaleIAm]

Yeah... I'm just trying to think of anything remotely possible...

 

[CoriM]

@KaleIAm - I sure appreciate everyone's ideas and help!

 

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please treat for parasites right away