MItes or Lice? Fluffy feathers with pic

[bairo]

I stand corrected..... Last time I saw that it was shaft lice....Dont know why I said mites. Thanks Dawg

Although Im not sure why you have not seen an egg bundle yet on one of the shafts.

Maybe we are all over thinking it? She is not molting is she?

 

[dawg53]

Not a big deal lol...they are all external parasites and need to be eliminated.

 

[ddieffenbach]

Update: Went out this morning while it was still dark to look for those nasty mites - I FOUND NOTHING. Rather, I SAW nothing. When we cleaned the coop a couple weeks ago I sprayed everything down with bleach at 200 ppm. My question is if there are still mites living in there, would anyone recommend spraying the coop with Neem Oil? It's sold as a miticide at Home Depot and would be readily available for me. I think I might consult my vet about Frontline Plus for use on our chickens, seeing how we use it for the dog anyways.

Additional question: Let's say the mites/lice/whatever were killed off, how long would it be before I see improvement in the chicken feathers? Basically, I want to know if what I am doing is working without allowing things to get worse. Thoughts?

 

[cjsgrlsx3]

Let's bump this to the top! These are my exact problems! I would like to know how long before I can see improvement to the feathers? It has been almost a year....what improvements have you seen?

 

[BWilkins]

YES!! This is EXACTLY what my chickens back looks like. I thought she was being bullied now I'm thinking mites. I went out in the coop last night to try to see any and couldn't find them but there are tons of these little cobweb things that I read somewhere else on here are a sign of mites.

What do I do? Just clean out the coop? Use this Invermectin Pour On stuff and clean the coop... will that fix it, or is there more I should be doing?

 

[adshoemake]

My Roo looks like this but not this bad. I think he has been molting and getting new feathers in as he is only 4 months old. I have 6 altogether but he is my only roo and the only one doing that. So I just assumed it was bc he has so many more feathers coming in over the other chickens

 

[sanekim16]

I am having this same problem with my EE. She has been like like this for a few month and lays an egg every day. Eats and drinks fine and I've searched all over for any sign of mites or lice and found nothing! Maybe molting but for this long?

 

[Charliepj]

I also have this problem... two coops both with 10 chickens,,, one side is more (fluffed up)than the other.
I have given Ivermectin to all the girls and also cleaned the coops. Im not convinced its a mite problem as I have even had the feathers under the microscope, and the skins on all the girls are clean... HELLLLPPPP.. just hoping its a weird moult. I am giving them some baby chick crumbs to up there protein incase its a protein deficiency and they are pecking.

 

[CluckNPluckFarm]

Having this problem as well. Bald spots above the tail (we have no roosters), fluffy feathers, and feathers that look ratty like the picture below. Any suggestions?? No signs of lice or mites. I was thinking of putting them all on Nutrena Feather Fixer feed to see if that would help.

 

[CluckNPluckFarm]

Here's a few more pics...