Losing feathers from underside.

[klbaker75]

Hi my white Cochin has been losing her feathers on her underside for 3 weeks. It’s all fluff. It’s not the vent region. It’s the parallel to the ground portion of her belly. Just a bald spot about 2x5 inches. She’s not broody. It started about two days after I bought organic food grade diatomaceous earth to treat some parasites in the ground they kept picking up. The DE worked great for that but she also took a bath in some of it and I am curious if that irritated her. I took all the DE away two days ago and today she’s shedding a lot again. She loses them throughout the day and night. I found evidence of a feather mite 9 days ago. I treated her with Sevin and haven’t seen any evidence of them since. She isn’t moulting. She’s laying eggs normally. She doesn’t appear stressed. However this is stressing me greatly bc she’s going to end up bald. If anyone can help me I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Perhaps she's preparing to set. Have you found downy feathers in one of the nest boxes?
She'll pluck her own feathers to line the nest and put her body heat in closer proximity to the eggs. Cochins are notoriously broody breeds.

 

[klbaker75]

Perhaps she's preparing to set. Have you found downy feathers in one of the nest boxes?
She'll pluck her own feathers to line the nest and put her body heat in closer proximity to the eggs. Cochins are notoriously broody breeds.

My salmon faverolle actually just went broody today and she is losing her breast feathers. It’s in a little different spot from the area in my Cochin. My Cochin hasn’t shown any signs of being broody and this . started three weeks ago. I have seen evidence of a feather mite on her on microscope and I just read this article I found linked on this site https://chickenwired.wordpress.com/2014/09/21/parasites-of-poultry/ and I’m curious about the treatment for feather mites. All of the data I’ve seen says external treatment is appropriate but this says the only treatment is Ivomec by Merial and the dosage is 0.5ml? The article doesn’t tell what strength the Ivomec is or what size chicken that 0.5 dosing is for.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My salmon faverolle actually just went broody today and she is losing her breast feathers. It’s in a little different spot from the area in my Cochin. My Cochin hasn’t shown any signs of being broody and this . started three weeks ago. I have seen evidence of a feather mite on her on microscope and I just read this article I found linked on this site https://chickenwired.wordpress.com/2014/09/21/parasites-of-poultry/ and I’m curious about the treatment for feather mites. All of the data I’ve seen says external treatment is appropriate but this says the only treatment is Ivomec by Merial and the dosage is 0.5ml? The article doesn’t tell what strength the Ivomec is or what size chicken that 0.5 dosing is for.

Do you have photos of her and the feather damage?
You say damage like in the link? Feather mites live in the shaft and feed on blood, they don't live off the bird like some poultry mites do.
So...for Feather Mites (Depluming Mites) you would need to treat with a product like Ivermectin which enters the bloodstream. Something like Permethrin would not take care of those. Pour On Ivermectin dosage is 0.09ml per pound of weight applied to the skin at the base of the neck, it does need to make contact with the skin. Repeat in 10-14 days. Withdrawal period ... that's something you would need to find out and what you are comfortable with, Ivermectin is not label for use in poultry so there is really no information about that.

 

[klbaker75]

So you think pour on is just as adequate as the injectable mentioned in the article?

There is no damage that I can see. Her feathers and skin look to be healthy. This is a pic of the mite I found a week or two ago. And I’ll post a pic of my girl. I’ll try and get a pic of her belly but it’s hard to get to bc she has so many feathers.

(250x and I think I have properly identified it as the megninia mite but I could be mistaken)

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She is beautiful!
That's cool! So you found that in a feather or in the shaft?

You can use the Injectable Ivermectin as well. Some say you give it orally, by injection, or topically. I have not used it. Dosage is 0.045 ml per pound of weight given once, then repeat in 10-14 days.

 

[klbaker75]

Ok thank you! No oddly enough I checked an overnight stool sample when I suspected she had mites. She had been shaking her head plus the feather loss.

I had seen on a gallery of parasites the day before that someone picked up a mite on stool sample when checking for intestinal worms. I never check their overnight stools since I prefer fresh when looking for worm larvae and eggs. So I thought what if I did a stool sample of her overnight stool when she grooms etc. and maybe I could find one. I was just lucky catching this one. It’s the only one I’ve seen and I’ve checked quite a bit since then.