Pale pink combs

[rebrascora]

According to my research, the active ingredient "Rotenone is toxic to erythrocytes in vitro"
Whilst it appears that insects don't have erythrocytes, it is possible that it has similar suffocating action on the cells in a developing nit egg, so there is a fair chance that those eggs are dead. Since your girls have access to plenty of dust bathing areas and the other two in the flock are not having problems, my gut feeling would be that this girl that is being troubled with such a bad infestation of lice is ailing in some other way.
The sulphur, which is the other active ingredient, may be why the clusters of eggs are yellow in the centre, which I thought was a bit odd when I first saw your photos of them. I had not come across this product before and it looks to be quite an effective tool in the fight against lice but needs to be very carefully used since it is extremely toxic to aquatic life.

I would definitely keep a regular check on her for further lice activity but also her general health. To have two such stunning birds and a third that is having major problems with parasites would ring alarm bells with me. It may well be that she preens some of those eggs off before moult but hopefully she will shed the rest in the autumn. Just out of interest, does she have any obvious abnormality to her beak that would cause her problems preening.... maybe cross beaked or over or under shot? Or maybe a neck problem that means she can't reach those feather shafts? Do you ever see her preening herself? Usually when they get up to roost on a night is a good time to observe them preening.

 

[Paul Martinello]

Thanks again for your response, it is greatly appreciated.

Some more background… I purchased these three girls from the same vendor, but I suspect that the gold one was kept in different quarters to the two Silvers. Which is probably why she is suffering, and the other two are not. She seems genuinely quite spritely, and yes, I see her preening quite frequently. It’s now consistent with the behavior of the other two, whereas previously she was constantly at herself, which is what made me check her.

I had a good look at the geometry of her beak this morning, and in my opinion it is perfect I guess my big concern out of all of this is that I am not accurately able to determine whether the lice eggs that she still carries are residual or active. I’ve considered treating her again with the dust, but she seems to hate me just a little more each time I treat her. I pulled this sample from her yesterday, and I really have no idea whether the mite eggs are alive or dead. Who said owning chickens was easy!

 

[rebrascora]

I'm absolutely amazed that she looks as well as she does! A salient lesson that scary things can be going on underneath those feathers, without it being immediately obvious. If her behaviour is now more in line with the others then I would hold fire with a third dusting but monitor closely.
You could email the company that make the product and include the schedule of treatment you have used and a photo or two of those feather shafts with egg clusters and ask them if their product will have killed the eggs. If you do, can you post the gist of their response, so that we can all learn from it and/or keep this thread updated with any relevant changes.

I'm curious to know how long you have had these birds? If it has only been a few weeks/months, have you contacted the breeder and made them aware of the problem if you feel that she came with these pests and ask what they would recommend using to treat the problem and explain what you have done so far. You could include positive feedback that the birds have been much admired on an international forum, so that it doesn't appear that you are just grumping.

 

[Paul Martinello]

Good advice, shall do.

I’ve had the girls for maybe six weeks, and first noticed the issue with the gold two weeks after they came home. I contacted the breeder and he suggested dust of some description, but was pretty sheepish about the whole thing. Understandably so…

I was pretty disappointed that he hadn’t been more proactive in selling birds that he knew were in a healthy state. Anyway, that’s history. My main concern is now the well-being of the gold. I’ll keep you posted!

Thanks again