Mite advice for a newbie

[Paul Martinello]

Hi there, I’m hoping somebody can offer some advice. I picked up three hens a few weeks ago and about 10 days ago realized one of them had a fairly heavy mite infestation. I’ve treated twice five days apart with the powder, and sprayed the coop with permethrin on two occasions. I just checked the affected girl and she still seems to be covered in lots of white rubbish at the base of the feather stalks. Does this look like remnants of the former infection, or still an active infestation? Many thanks in advance, Paul

 

[azygous]

Those are nits (lice eggs). Your flock likely had lice. Mites will appear as "dirt" on the butt feathers and the skin under will be red and inflamed from the blood-sucking fiends. Lice feed on feather dander and dry skin flakes and don't cause much discomfort. The treatment is the same, so you're covered.

Mites are harder to get rid of since they live in the cracks and crevices of the premises. A liquid pesticide is more useful to eradicate them. I use Elector PSP, a safe biological, control on both my premises and flock.

Back to the nits on the feathers. They are hard to kill, even harder to get off the chicken butts. You can yank out the nit-covered feather shafts. This causes mild discomfort for the chicken, but the feathers will grow back. Or you can keep treating to be sure the nits don't hatch into new lice.

 

[Paul Martinello]

Thank you very much for responding and for the info. So having said all of this, does it appear that I still have a problem or are these the remnants of a former problem? Should I continue treating with the powder? I’m trying very hard to make friends with these chickens, and this constant harassment is doing me no favors

 

[azygous]

You've probably got all the lice with the treatments you've done. I would inspect the skin around the vents in a week. If any eggs survived, you will see lice crawling around on the skin. Then you will need to do another treatment.

I find it easy to inspect butts by getting down on my knees with a few raisins in my hand, grab the closest hen and bring her in toward my crotch, then bend over and take a quick peek at the vent area. More raisins and I've quickly inspected butts without any stress, and they think I'm terrific for handing out raisins.

 

[Paul Martinello]

I guess essentially the question that I’m asking is, will these clumps eventually fall off on their own or will they to be manually removed?

 

[azygous]

They will remain glued to the feather shafts until the feathers fall out on their own or you yank them out. Most hens do not even react as long as you grasp the feathers shaft very close to the skin and pull firmly.

If you have Vetericyn, spray the skin afterward and it will soothe it. It's one item ever chicken keeper should have in their first aid kit. It repels infection and encourages tissue regrowth in wounds. (Not that yanking feathers is going to cause wounds.)

 

[Paul Martinello]

If I yank every feather that is affected I’ll end up with a completely bald bird! I guess I’ll just monitor, and treat as required then let nature run its course…

Thanks again for your thoughts