Mite Damage

[Matt A NC]

When Sissy molted her feathers didn't come in right. At first I thought the feathers just weren't opening right from the shaft covering. With further investigation I discovered Sissy was covered with MITES. They had completely shredded the tender new feathers that were growing.
Sissy and Half Pint
Obviously Sissy is on the right. Halfpint had to jump in the picture. These girls sleep beside each other.

Sissy is a hatchery bantam cochin. She will be 5 years old in 1 week.

You can how badly damaged her new feathers are. She was dusted weekly for 3 weeks and that got rid of the mites. Now she is stuck with bad feathers until next molt in the Fall. Out of the 14 birds in that house Sissy is the only one with feather damage. She was not the only one molting at that time.

Matt

 

[chickerdoodle]

Not an expert in chickens but have done a lot of reading up on them.

I believe you need to treat all the birds as well as the coop if they are that bad--and even give Sissy a bath first. A lot also depends on the type of mite as well--some hide in the cracks of wood in the henhouse which includes the nest boxes. It is possible since she is older she my suffer more than younger birds. You obviously need to treat more thoroughly and I might recommend putting DE in the dusting area. Let us know how it works!!

 

[Matt A NC]

I should have said that every bird was dusted and so were houses. The bedding was changed and the new was dusted. I used 7 dust on the birds. The houses were dusted with a mixture of 7 and DE. I did the same thing with Every house and bird that is here.

I had gotten lax on dusting and putting dust in their dusting holes. They paid the price. Now I know not to let my guard down. I am also covering their lots to keep the wild birds out, which is where the mites probably came from. The covering kept getting put off, but now I have to get it down by the end of Feb.

Matt

 

[chickerdoodle]

Well then, you might want to talk to the vet about Ivermectin. Its off label for chickens but a lot of folks use it.

 

[Manok-Tao]

Will be picking up 8 pullets in a few weeks. They are all in the same coop (with other 3-4 month hens). Would I be smart to dust them upon arrival before putting them in coop? Copp will already be treated with DE.
How do you dust a bird with DE?
John

 

[chickerdoodle]

Quote:
Yikes! I would do that and if you have other chickens quarantine the new ones for at least 2-4 weeks to be sure they are not carrying any transmissible disease.