Sad Sick Hen, Hospice?

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm fairly sure our mites are permethrin resistant at this point.
She's got a few to be seen, almost all of the older chickens do except the rooster. The young ones and bantams seem...resistant? They all spend almost equal time in each environment, so I cannot attribute it to "oh the bedding, or it's the nest boxes" reinfesting them etc. They are redmites, not roost mites, so at least that's something.
I literally bathed this chickens every 5 days or so all summer. Every time, treated surfaces too.
Too cold for bathing now, have done a few sessions of rump and wingpit spraying since September. Still, some always persist.

I'm finding chickens to be obnoxious creatures to keep. Might need to make big changes in my chicken plans. We've had chickens since March. Only March, and have had to deal with almost every chicken problem in the books. These guys are here to lay eggs, 90% of them are just livestock to us. We care about them but clearly I am over making time to care for every single individual bird with a booboo or bug.
But this is about Barb, one of my few pets
Sorry for the rant. Maybe there's an AHA moment coming.

What permethrin product have you been using?
You could try Ivermectin Pour On to see if that helps, I can give you dosing if you need that. If she's still got Red Mites, then this likely is contributing to her decline. She may have more going on, but the mites surely are not helping.

I'm so sorry that your chicken keeping experience has not been a pleasant one. I would agree with you that if you are finding them obnoxious to keep, then they may not be right for you. It's clear that you care for them, but there is nothing wrong with re-evaluating goals/lifestyle, etc. and making that decision that you need to let them go.

 

[DellaMyDarling]

Willing to dose birds with Ivermectin, assuming it isn't terribly pricey? We've been using standard Permethrin10 at 1:19 ratio. It certainly did help, but I had about 18 LESS birds to manage when we began bathing them in it. And again, too cold now to soak a chicken.
Blah. I'm really thinking Barb has Mareks, as it ties in with other odd ball issues we've seen in flock. I believe symptoms began long before bringing in random birds too, so looks like my free starter flock ruined chicken keeping on the farm.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Willing to dose birds with Ivermectin, assuming it isn't terribly pricey? We've been using standard Permethrin10 at 1:19 ratio. It certainly did help, but I had about 18 LESS birds to manage when we began bathing them in it. And again, too cold now to soak a chicken.
Blah. I'm really thinking Barb has Mareks, as it ties in with other odd ball issues we've seen in flock. I believe symptoms began long before bringing in random birds too, so looks like my free starter flock ruined chicken keeping on the farm.

Pour On Ivermectin dosage is 0.09 ml per pound of weight. You would apply this to the base of the neck along the spine. It needs to come into contact with the skin! Repeat in 10-14 days.
If you have a Tractor supply where you live, you should be able to price it easily by looking online.

If you think you may be dealing with Marek's, the only way to know for sure would be to send a bird for testing. Necropsy will give you that information. I'm so sorry that you are dealing with this.

 

[dawg53]

Red mites serve as vectors for spirochetes. Penicillin derivatives are effective in treating spirochetes only if there is a low or medium count of spirochetes in the blood. Treatment with high counts of spirochetes will result in death of the bird due to toxicity of so many dead spirochetes at once in the blood.
It would be best to have blood drawn by a vet to get a spirochete count and go from there.
Spirochetes might be the cause of Barb's decline.

 

[DellaMyDarling]

Red mites serve as vectors for spirochetes. Penicillin derivatives are effective in treating spirochetes only if there is a low or medium count of spirochetes in the blood. Treatment with high counts of spirochetes will result in death of the bird due to toxicity of so many dead spirochetes at once in the blood.
It would be best to have blood drawn by a vet to get a spirochete count and go from there.
Spirochetes might be the cause of Barb's decline.

Hmmm, horrifying but fascinating.
She was the most extreme mite case of them all.
I'll be sleeping in the goat shed if I dare bring a chicken to the vet though.
What's the likelihood of spirochete overload versus Mareks, weighing in the other unusual symptoms in the flock? Poor bird.

 

[Eggcessive]

Have you had to deal with any coccidiosis in the past? A run down hen could also have a problem with an overload of coccidia. Deep litter methods are not a good way to prevent that. Corid (amprollium) in the water is treatment for 5-7 days. Dosage is 2 tsp of the liquid Corid, or 1.5 tsp of the powder per gallon of water. If your vet could check a sample of droppings, that can be ruled out.

 

[DellaMyDarling]

I didn't think of that really. Figured it wouldn't really effect older chickens.
I can dose her later.

 

[Eggcessive]

I didn't think of that really. Figured it wouldn't really effect older chickens.
I can dose her later.

With sick chickens, it is always a little guesswork trying to rule one or another thing out. Normally coccidiosis is only a problem in young birds before they build up a tolerance, but if their immunity is low, coccidiosis can be a problem. A fecal float done by your vet could rule out worms and coccidiosis.