Parasite / fungus / ???

[Gibs]

Hi folks,

I noticed these white specks on the wattles and throat of one of my hens today - anybody familiar with what it might be? They're hard to the touch, granular in appearance but very difficult to pull off of the feathers (at least, without pulling out the entire feather). I tried a gentle soap and warm water, but most of them stayed on. Nothing living that I could detect, but maybe some kind of parasite egg...? I haven't noticed it on the rest of the flock, but will check more carefully when I get the chance.

This is an eight-month-old Australorp hen. The flock lives on grassy pasture and free-choice laying pellets, but when I picked her up today, I also noticed she is very skinny - clearly something wrong. On the other hand, she seems to have an appetite and is neither lethargic nor overly anxious. I've put her in isolation with extra feed (which she's been eating), and water spiked with apple cider vinegar (which might not help, but I figured can't hurt).

So, any ideas what I'm dealing with? Anything I should try out, or anything else I should look for?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Eggcessive]

Just a guess--maybe it's lice eggs. You should be able to spot the tiny tan bugs by parting the feathers if it is from them. One type of lice are located around th neck and under the wings, while the most common body louse is usually found under the vent area. If you see them, permethrin 10 % spray works well, but keep it away from eyes. The eggs can hatch very 10 days, so a retratment may be necessary. Some use coconut oil on lice eggs to remove them, but I have no experience with that.

 

[Gibs]

Well, I do have a jar of coconut oil and not much to lose! I'll give that a try and look for lice - do they appear all over the body or only at certain locations? I did check around her legs, belly and under the wings earlier, but I was mostly looking for more white stuff.

Thanks for the response!

 

[zephyricle]

X2
Though I've never seen or used spray, premetheryn is the thing to use. You can usually find it in dust form and it's SUPER easy to apply. I wouldn't bother removing eggs until you know the lice are all dead. The lice like to live around the vent and the wings, and if it's worse, the whole bird. The rule woth lice is, if one has lice they all do. I recommend dusting ALL chickens that come in contact with this one. Once all the lice are gone, you can get rid of the eggs by what was said above, or just by simply picking a few feathers. Once dead, they aren't a problem. They can and will stay on the feathers until next molt, so it's up to you if you want to remove the dead eggs

 

[Eggcessive]

The 2 main types are found around the vent and around the neck and undr wings.

 

[Eggcessive]

This article has really good info on the 2 main types of lice, and how often to treat them: http://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8162.pdf

This one has good pictures and is also good: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/08/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification.html