Poultry Lice symptoms question...

[chicksurreal]

So, the year old Cuckoo Marans roo that we took from my MIL (because she was going to turn him out in the wilderness if we didn't), has lice (I think).

He bent down to eat some food and I noticed that the whole area around his vent was beet red and featherless, so after dark we got him off the roost (he is VERY scared of people at this point) and started an inspection. I had noticed earlier that he had some broken feathers on his chest and wondered how that happened, although I thought it could have been because she feeds all of her chickens scratch only and it might have been a protein deficiency.

Anyway, my question is concerning the symptoms I saw tonight. He has lots of broken and missing feathers all the way from under his tail to his abdomen. The skin is Very red and his vent is swollen. He had a lot of manure stuck to his vent and around it, so we gave him a soaking down there and cleaned him up. Most of his feathers are broken off where the quill comes out of the skin. It has to be so painful down there. I will get pictures tomorrow.

We set him in a shallow tub of warm water to wash him and I happened to take a look at it before I threw it out. Tons of lice (or something) in the water. At least I believe they are lice. it looks like it to me.

I took one out of the water and tried to get a picture of it. If anyone can confirm that it's lice or help me figure out what it is, I would be grateful. Any help on how to help him get better would also be appreciated.

 

[Michael Apple]

grew up with yard chickens... have had my own 50 years... am 82... never had much mite/lice problem . recall Father painting roosts with something (long beore Sevin) and heat from body would make fumes. It might have been "sheep dip" that vets ought to know about. Any old-timers who remembers? also burn wood and have ash heap for them to wallow in. lady friend also took in a new rooster who has them. like anything good clean surroundings, diet, work wonders.

When I was a kid my dad used Black Leaf 40. That is what you may remember. It was nicotine sulfate, and when sparingly used on roosts, it emitted a minute vapor from the warmth of the roosting bird, which killed mites. A shady spot under a tree with soil loose enough for birds to excavate was always where our birds chose to dust. I still have an area under trees where they prefer that to this day.

 

[Michael Apple]

If it may be of assistance to you, chicksurreal, I've been using a routine that has kept mites off my birds for a long time, minus the occasional Knemidocoptes mites that get on the legs that I treat with Nustock or sulfur salve before they get bad. I clean out coops every 3-4 months, removing all shavings and shop vacuuming the coops. I then disinfect with activated Oxine AH in my garden sprayer, let dry, then use something I've found very effective compared to other weak permethrin type concentrates being marketed which mites are showing resistance to. It is Ravap EC (emulsified concentrate). It is Rabon-Vapona labeled for use on poultry as well as premises. I stagger use of it with Cylence or Permectrin II. I spray the ceiling, walls, floors, all sides of roosts, nests, cracks, and crevices. I let dry, add new shavings, and allow birds access to the coops again.

I treat roosts again about every month and treat scaly leg only occasionally in some old birds. There is also a Rabon WP, but is much more expensive and not as practical. Makes a great roost paint though. I have tried a number of things over the years including orange oil insecticides, DE, neem, mint and clove oil insecticides, and none of them do squat for mites and lice. Some may kill in time, but have no residual strength to kill hatching eggs of ectoparasites. Just thought I'd mention it. Good luck with your new rooster. It sounds like he found a good, new home.

 

[Kelsie2290]

It does look like lice, here is the Learning Center article on them. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/lice-chicken-pests-how-to-protect-your-chickens-from-lice Sevin or poultry dust/ permethrin works on them, you should be able to get it at the feed store, you'll need to treat him several times and the area he was in, change all the bedding etc.

 

[chicksurreal]

It does look like lice, here is the Learning Center article on them. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/lice-chicken-pests-how-to-protect-your-chickens-from-lice Sevin or poultry dust/ permethrin works on them, you should be able to get it at the feed store, you'll need to treat him several times and the area he was in, change all the bedding etc.

Thanks very much! We've only had him a few days and my existing flock has never had anything like this. I'll clean his coop and do the things suggested in that article. Thank goodness we quarantined him!

 

[chicksurreal]

I'm still wondering if the really red skin and breaking of feathers is because of the lice or if it's something else. I'm not getting clear answers from the articles I've read. Has anyone had any experience with this?

 

[chicksurreal]

Here's a picture of the area around his vent. Sorry for the poor quality. He wouldn't hold still, but you can see the color. I bought some Sevin dust and also some permethrin. We decided to use the Sevin-5 dust tonight. I'm hoping we can help him through getting rid of the lice and adding nutritional support.

Whenever he sees me coming he starts making this pathetic little noise, like "What now?" poor guy.

 

[wolfpup]

Have you got any NuStock? That will certainly help with the redness/soreness. I had a similar problem with one of my girls being red and sore with loss of feathers and read about NuStock on one of the fermenting feeds threads (or possibly the Road Less Traveled thread).

It is hellishly hard to get hold of in the UK but I managed it - three days later the skin was back to normal. Great Stuff.

 

[chicksurreal]

Have you got any NuStock? That will certainly help with the redness/soreness. I had a similar problem with one of my girls being red and sore with loss of feathers and read about NuStock on one of the fermenting feeds threads (or possibly the Road Less Traveled thread).

It is hellishly hard to get hold of in the UK but I managed it - three days later the skin was back to normal. Great Stuff.

I don't have any, but I will certainly get some, we're building our chicken first aid kit as we go along. I had no idea how many issues chickens can have, so I only started with the basics. Thanks very much for the information!

 

[SavageDestiny]

The bright red skin is likely just from irritation. The lice chew on feather shafts and skin, so it's very uncomfortable if they have an infestation. Broken feather shafts could be from him trying to pick the lice off, or from malnutrition if you said that was a possibility. Or a combo of the two.