missing feathers, inflamed skin

[mattndi527]

I never found a solution but one day out of the blue I noticed New feathers starting to grow and they all gradually got all their feathers back in. There was no change in environment or food. Weird! I don't have specific dates but I'm going to say they had the bald spots for more than a year.

 

[Dea Riley]

It's mites, whether you can see them or not. There are many varieties and they can pick them up no matter how clean or pristine their conditions. No different than the way mosquito, spiders and flies plague humans despite our efforts to rid ourselves permanently from them. It's more difficult than you think to get rid of them. First dust your hens with Seven. I know it seems harsh, but it does work and seems to be safe or rather no one is reporting any problems with their hens after having done so other than the trauma they endure by having their loving owner dust them all over. Do all you can to protect their eyes, nose and mouth. Best bet is to flip them upside down onto their back with their feet straight up to dust their bottom halves and then flip them to top to do their back. Plan on doing it more than once depending on the extent of the infestation. I put a towel over my girls heads - it worked. You have to rub it into their skin and through each feather - not an easy job by any means. Chickens have fragile respiratory systems so it's optimum to dust outside and not in their coop.

Once chickens are dusted, remove everything and I mean everything from their coop and clean it from top to bottom, especially nest bedding or any bedding. I actually dusted my whole coop with seven and then spread new hay on the floor and wood flakes in their nests. I added Diatomaceous earth to their indoor dust bath. I don't have any young chicks only adults so I felt safe in adding Diatomaceous earth, but again remember chickens have sensitive respiratory systems so ventilation is a must. Let the dust settle down before placing chickens back in coop. Diatomaceous earth takes a longer time to take effect, it sort of scratches the bugs to death, whereas seven is an instant kill. I use it primarily as a preventative rather than treatment and use it in corners to be safe rather than sorry. Diatomaceous earth should be used in addition to dusting rather than in replace of. One big issue to pay attention to is the fact roosters won't loose their feathers but the hens will, so if you have a rooster with no symptoms you must dust him too - he's a carrier and can re-infest the whole flock even after the hens are treated.

As I said, depending on the time of year and extent of infestation you will likely have to treat repeatedly and even after you see signs of feathers returning. Mites can come down in numbers but then rebuild over time. Often chicks bring them home when you purchase them and it takes time, up to a year for the mites to grow in number to an extent feather loss occurs. It got ahead of me because the "experts" advised me the feather loss was due to "over mating" but that had absolutely nothing to do with it. It looks exactly the same in the beginning. The give away you have mites and not an over-breeding problem is red inflamed skin in addition to feather loss. By the time you see this, you already have a problem. Frankly, I wish someone would have advised me early on as best care policy to dust my chickens as a precaution - so that's the advise I'm giving to everyone now.

I have a building as a coop making my clean up a bit more involved, but it offers good ventilation which is a plus. I'm beginning to get ahead of it. It takes time. This will not go away overnight and must be treated more than once and continuously. After going through what I have I'm going to make it a part of my regular care schedule every 6 months same as worming, etc., Once spring hit, the mites flourished thanks to the nice warm, moist weather as do all bugs. That's when their symptoms worsened and I knew there was something afoul (pun intended) in my flock. I did my own research and it worked.

Dusting should do the trick but you have to stick with it.

There is also a drop on wormer, sold as a cow wormer in retail stores, but can be used in small quantities on chickens. You place it on the back of their necks, similar to frontline, as a means to rid them of lice and mites - it works, but should be used only in extreme or persistent cases. The more feathers you have missing the bigger the infestation is. If you're interested I'll provide the name and brand. I used much less than what others recommended and it still worked in combo with my other efforts. Remember you must destroy all eggs for 10 days following drop on wormer treatment which is why so many don't like to use it. it is a harsh treatment, so pick up their feed if you opt for this method.

So here's the list:

Remove everything from coop and clean it thoroughly. Dust coop with Seven.
Dust all chickens with Seven avoiding eyes and mouth
Dust coop
Rinse and repeat above steps until feathers begin to return
Repeat again once feathers return to be safe.

If above fails utilize drop on wormer. Remember to throw away any eggs for 10 days following drop on wormer.

My girls aren't there yet, but there is definite improvement. The variance in recovery is caused due to my ability to adequately dust them depending on behavior of bird not treatment method. Some are more or less easy to handle.

There exists volumes of information on the web, but few explain the need for continued treatment - so bear in mind there is no overnight cure but rather you'll have to stick with it for months.

The repellents sold do not work - total waste of money.

Hope this helps.

 

[mattndi527]

Thank you for your reply. My chickens are still looking good but I'm taking your advice and dusting when we do our next thorough cleaning of the coop.

 

[Fosters]

How often are we dusting when mites are present? How about after we can see no mites, only inflamed red skin? We are concerned about the sensitivity of the skin to the dusting treatments.