Mite infestation

[Queen Athena]

Hello everyone, i have recently had a mite infestation, i have treated all chickens and ducks. My peking duck penelope has a ring of missing feathers around her eye and the eye was a bit weepy, could this be mites irritating her?? I have attached picture. Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Amiga]

I think it's possible - could you maybe try some mild saline rinse for her eye area?

 

[Queen Athena]

Thank you, i have been using betadine with water solution. Im keeping a very close eye on her. If it is not looking better in a couple days, i will be taking her to the vet

 

[casportpony]

I think betadine can actually cause tissue damage.

-Kathy

 

[Queen Athena]

What? Its what vets use to clean atound the eye before surgery, i didnt think it woul be bad, what would you recommend

 

[JadeComputerGal]

I know Betadine is used for eye conditions in humans but wasn't aware that vets use it. I guess it makes sense, though. I'd be hesitant to use it this way on my own ducks if I hadn't first checked with my vet about the proper strength, so that gives me yet another question to ask him next time!

One thing I'm thinking about Betadine in this situation is that I'm not sure it would be effective against mites, and I'm thinking probably not. It's typically used for infections or to prevent infections, not to treat parasites. I use Vetericyn eye wash and opthalmic gel, but those are for cleaning and irritations. They wouldn't do anything to get rid of mites if she's still infected. Are you seeing signs that she still has mites, or do you think the feather loss and irritation is from scratching before you treated for them?

 

[Queen Athena]

I did the betadine at a very weak solution but now I have started washing the eye with saline solution. I have treated her for mites, as i have done for the rest of the flock. So im thinking the irritation was from the mites as the eye doesn't seem to be getting worse, so i think the mites are gone, now i just have to keep the eye clean so it heals.

 

[Amiga]

I did the betadine at a very weak solution but now I have started washing the eye with saline solution. I have treated her for mites, as i have done for the rest of the flock. So im thinking the irritation was from the mites as the eye doesn't seem to be getting worse, so i think the mites are gone, now i just have to keep the eye clean so it heals.

Makes sense to me.

 

[casportpony]

Been doing a lot of reading lately and something I read yesterday said that betadine can cause tissue damage. FWIW, this was an article on would care for birds that was written by a vet. After reading this thread last night I did some more searching and read that betadine should be diluted 10 to 1.

Heye is a close up of the eye:


-Kathy

 

[MariskaKilian]

HI, Not sure how true it is but I'm doing this in my chicken camp and I don't have problems really. If you braai (which South Africans do allot

) we take the ash and throw it in the camp over the grass and even in one corner for the chickens to scrub in like they would do a dust bath. They say that the lice doesn't like the ash. So I'm putting it in my camp but not sure if it actually does help or not. And then I also put carbadust every now and then. I also gave my chickens a Epson salt bath before when they were all sick and that helped (just dip the head quick).