I have a silkie chicken that went broody a few weeks ago.. when I checked on her a few days ago i noticed she had head feathers missing and it looked scaly and some of her fluffy feathers had bands on them.. I assumed it was mites, since I have heard broody chickens tend to get them from not dust bathing. The coop had DE in it. I also did put straw in with the pine shavings this winter since it was getting so cold., so that could have been a mite source. The other girls looked fine. So, I dusted her with Sevin and cleaned out the coop and sprinkled Sevin on the floor, in the corners and in the nesting box, along with DE. I raked out as much straw as I could from the run area, sprinkled the outside run with DE and wood ashes. Now we only did the clean yesterday, but how will I know if I got rid of them or not? I never actually saw any mites on her, and heard you may not if they come out at night, just assumed broody + no head feathers= mites. Now I am wondering if its from the others picking on her and the bands on her head were on feathers coming in. Better safe than sorry I suppose, but want to know that I got them out of there. This is what she looks like right now.
Sevin. I only did it yesterday this is what she looks like
