Parasites! Confused! Please help!

[Tioram]

We started raising our girls last year. I started with 4, and chicken math... well, we have 16 now.

Half of the flock is a year old, and the other half are 3 months. The "old" girls are missing feathers, have red, painful looking backs, and I'm pretty sure they have mites or lice. They weren't hand raised and it's really hard to diagnose them even when chasing and grabbing them.

Anyway, a bit over 2 months ago I started treatment with permethrin and treated again 4 weeks later. No improvement. Then I used Frontline Plus. Now I have 3 birds looking somewhat improved and 5 looking so mangy that I think they should be culled! They are all still laying.

Question - what should I do? Treat again with Frontline Plus? Permethrin? Maybe try Ivomec? This is costly as all get out! Maybe try more than one method to really attack it?

I have cleaned out the entire coop and am going to do so again. They always have DE in there and I'm mixing in sevin dust.

I'm at my wits end. I hate seeing my girls looking so sickly and I'm worried my younger girls will get it too (they haven't thus far and I have no way of putting them elsewhere right now). I have no roosters so I know this is a parasite issue.

Thank you to anyone and everyone who can help this newbie out!

 

[junebuggena]

You should repeat treatments for lice/mites every 2 weeks for about two months. You also need to treat inside the coop and run, paying special attention to roosts and nest boxes. They might not look normal again until after their fall molt. Do you have a rooster? Missing back feathers is usually caused by a rooster overbreeding.

 

[Tioram]

No, no roosters :-\ What do you suggest I use for treatment? I can absolutely treat then every 2 weeks. Thank you!

 

[MadamPoofyBrow]

Ivermectin pour-on is the only thing that works in my experience. It can be bought at TSC and works within hours. It's blue and for cows, but is perfectly safe four chickens.
For standard breeds, I give 1/2 ml
For bantams, a fourth ml
For young ones and Seramas, I use an eighth.
Gets rid of all the lice and mites super quick! Only thing is you can't eat the eggs for two weeks after treatment, but they don't need to be re-treated for six months.
Good luck!

 

[junebuggena]

Pyrethrin, pyrethrum, or sven dust are popular choices because they are easy to apply and are effective.

 

[Tioram]

So there IS a withdraw period for the Ivomec? Some posts I was reading said there wasn't. But it makes sense that there would be. Should I use blu-kote on their raw backs and bottoms?

I don't recall pyrethrin in my searching. Though that could just be a difference in names. Thank you, I will look that up.

 

[MadamPoofyBrow]

You don't HAVE to withdraw for the ivomec, but I always do to be safe. And you definitely don't wanna hatch any eggs from those two weeks. I've heard it should be fine if you eat an egg afterward, but I never have.
Blu-kote for the raw spots would be good. I usually use vasoline.
A lot of people recommend 7 dust, but I don't wanna take a chance of them eating a pesticide, so I got the pour-on ivomectrin that is absorbed into their blood and works for 6 months.
Good luck with the mites!