Parasite causing feather loss.... not molting UPDATE

[zowieyellowflame]

Hello,
I have a few hens that are 2 or 3 years old. They do have scaley leg mite which I try to treat with vasoline. (limited success, I have 15 affected birds)
3 of my hens are displaying feather loss, for several months now. I have figured it was from rooster activity, but upon closer examination, the feathers are in rough shape all over and the hen feels gritty and dirty all over. She is also loosing feathers right around her face.... I have a couple of hens that have lost all of their face feathers.
This hen is not molting, she has all of her primary and secondary wing feathers. She lays eggs occasionally, eats and drinks well and does not seem to have lost any weight.
I am wondering if this looks like other parasites? Lice, northern fowl mite and the depluming mite are some mentioned in Storey's Guide to Raising Poultry. Any help would be appreciated.

Photos are attached of the little hen we call "dirty". In her pretty days, she was white with black specs all over.

 

[CMV]

Sounds like you may have mites. You need to treat ASAP. Sevin dust is easily found at most agricultural stores. A thorough dusting of each bird followed by a thorough cleaning and disinfecting of the coop should help immensely. It is important to follow up in 7-10 days with another dusting and cleaning of the coop. If your infestation is bad enough you may need to do it at least once more after that.

Here's a link to a bug page to help you identify what bug you are dealing with:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

I hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[welasharon]

I would go ahead and treat her with ivomec pour on. It should get everything but you can also dip the legs in vegetable oil. The problem, to me, with vasoline is making sure it liquifies enough to get in all the cracks. However, the vasoline could be working but they could be getting reinfected from the environment. You need to clean out the coop and dust everywhere with something like seven dust. Seven dust kills the bugs immediately but if they are all over the bird you may want to consider the ivomec. Just a few drops on the back of the neck, making sure it goes on the skin and not feathers, and it kills the bugs.
sharon

 

[zowieyellowflame]

Thanks for the replies! CMV, I am having trouble getting that link to work. I will try it again in a bit. Thanks!

 

[zowieyellowflame]

An update.... I sat in a lawnchair, holding this little hen for a long time. (after looking at pictures of signs of mite infestations)
The areas that are affected are the back, top of wings, back of neck and abdomen.
I can see nothing crawling around. There were just a very small number of black specs and after watching for a long time I feel I could conclude they are dirt, possibly parasite feces but definately not parasites.
There are no blood spots, no crusts.
The only actually wound area with some scabbing is right on the top of the back.
When I took a close look at the rest of the hen.... under wings, legs, thighs, lower on the neck, etc, the feathers are full and the skin is healthy except for a very small amount of flakes or dandruff.

So I am now wondering if this is still a rooster problem? The areas affected are the ones that would involve his mating, including the abdomen being pushed into the ground. He is very big, she is very small. So maybe I just have to try to isolate her and the other poorly hens from him for a while?

 

[Judy]

I have that same link CMV has and it won't work for me today either, but it's really a good link, with photos of what you are looking for. This link has acted up for me several times. I think when the school gets up and running they fix whatever the problem is. The mites are so tiny that with my eyes they might as well be invisible. One of the critters lays essentially colorless eggs along the base of the feather shaft. Some are on the bird only at night, on the roost or wherever during the day. Eprinex (cattle pour-on wormer) is a great product for both these and the leg mites; I'd no doubt invest in a bottle in your situation. Doesn't clean the coop but sure frees the chicken of them; it's supposed to be in their system long enough that you don't have to retreat the birds for hatching eggs, or so I've read.

 

[zowieyellowflame]

ddawn, how long do you have to discard eggs if you treat? Any amount of time is worth it.... I am just wondering what is safe.

 

[welasharon]

No egg withdrawal for Eprinex Ivomec pour on.

 

[tammye]

you may have a feather plucker in the flock, sit and watch them together even at roost time that is when I finally saw it and it was bad, I have two hens with a serious plucking problem

 

[Betsy57]

I'm having a similar problem with feather loss on the face. One chicken has had it for a few months and now another one has it. There is also a line of feathers missing right behind the head too, like a line around the back of the head from ear to ear. Looks a little dry and red but I see no bugs/mites or anything. They're not pecking each other on the face that I've seen, they'd probably put an eye out or something if they were. mmmmmm