Scaly Leg Mite Again? *Update* Buffy Died Last Night :(

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

My 3-year-old Silkie hen Buffy contracted scaly leg mites back in July. i brought her in the house for several weeks, treated her with the spot-on ivermectin drops, bathed her legs and rubbed them with vasoline. i could never tell if i ever killed the mites, as her legs had raised scales that never went down. She also was experiencing very watery poos at the time. i eventually put her back with her flock and she seemed okay.

Then with this cold snap, she seemed very puffed up and miserable. i brought her inside again and treated with ivermectin, washed her legs and rubbed them with vasoline. i'm not sure if she has the scaly leg mite again or still. i read that once the scales lift up they don't go back down, so i'm confused. Also, she has very watery poos that are very green in color. Below are pics of legs and poo. Would appreciate any input, or if someone thinks she needs to get into the vet for a blood test or something, i can do that.

Most of her poos are almost purely water. This is the most substantial poo i've seen in days.

 

[possumqueen]

I don't know enough about poo to say much, except that a)that looks bad and b)it looks like there's blood in it. coccidia comes to mind right off the bat.

As for the scaley leg mites, I can say from painful personal experience that you may have not got rid of them in the first place, and they're showing up on her because she's weak from whatever is causing the bloody-looking poo.

The mites are like fleas. They don't LIVE on the bird. They get off and live in the wood and crevices of the coop. You need to treat the coop for them, and replace the roost or whatever she sleeps on, and take a good hard look at the rest of your birds for leg mites you might not have noticed.

Talk to your vet about something you can dose her with to fight the mites from inside her system, and take a sample of the poo for the vet to look at. A fecal check is a fairly cheap thing.

Good luck with this. Keep posting about it.

maggie

ps: don't put her back out till it warms up. Going from warm to cold would be the final straw in a sick bird.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

There actually isn't blood in the poo. You might just be seeing dark spots from the picture. My camera is very old. i did recently replace the platform she normally sleeps on. i will go ahead and give that particular coop a good cleaning in the next day or so. i have looked at everyone else's legs and no one else seems to be affected. Not sure why it's just her.

i just scooped up some of her poo and will take it into my vet in a bit. She could have cocci or too much e-coli, or something. Also, when i had her inside in July and she had the watery poos, my vet said we should do a blood test if she doesn't improve, but she seemed to do a little better so i never got that done.

Thanks so much for your input and suggestions. Buffy is one of my favorites, one of my very first silkies, and i would hate for anything to happen to her.

 

[Wynette]

Do you feed pellets? If so, it appears she has undigested pellets in her poo...this could be an indicator of a digestive issue. If the poo is VERY bright/dark green, that's a common appearance for a bird that's not eating enough, but that poo pic seems to be quite a large amount.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Quote:
i feed crumbles. Plus, with her, i have been giving her chopped hard boiled eggs, mealworms, yogurt. She doesn't seem to be eating much. Her crop has some food it it, but small compared to my other silkies.

That poo is the most she has pooed in the last week. It is primarily water with a bit of substance. Saw some very bright (day glow) green on her backside yesterday.

 

[Wynette]

That "dayglow" green is typically what you see when they're not eating enough. I wonder if she had something stopping her up that has now passed through? That's a huge poo!

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i took Buffy to the vet yesterday and she drew some blood. She had a hard time getting enough blood as poor Buffy was very anemic. The vet did note on exam that Buffy had a heart murmur. We also found some teeny mites in the carrier with her. i'm having another bloom of roost mites in some of my coops. Buffy has been in the house so they must have been in the carrier. The vet told me to dust her when i got home and sent me home with some antibiotics. i did dust her, and let her peck around a bit outside. She looked very weak. i didn't start the antibiotics as i wanted to wait for the results of the blood test today.

Woke up this morning to find Buffy had died sometime during the night. i asked my vet to do a necropsy. Just got those results now. Seems she had fluid around her heart, which probably contributed to the heart murmur and would make it hard for her to breath. She had a large mass in her liver, possibly cancer, and an abnormal spleen. i had been feeling bad this morning that maybe i shouldn't have dusted her, but i guess from what the vet found, she wouldn't have lived long regardless.

My heart hurts so bad. i love that sweet little girl. She was one of my very first hatchlings. i can still hear the sounds she would make. She had her own special way of talking. She was the head hen of her pen. She never fought - everyone just respected her. Below are some pictures of her. She was a beautiful girl and i am lucky to have had her in my life. Thanks for letting me share.

Here are a couple of pictures of her when she was about a year old:

And here is a picture of her shortly after we moved to Northern California. She's the one in the middle. My husband was showing all the hens how low our electricity bill was since moving from Los Angeles.

 

[purpletree23]

I'm so sorry you lost her. Please accept my condolences. You did everything you could for her and she knew you cared and passed away peacefully close to her owner.

Take care of yourself.

 

[Elite Silkies]

I'm so sorry.............. she was such a beautiful girl. She was lucky to have you.

 

[WriterofWords]

I'm so sorry!

We do what we can, it works or it doesn't, the only guarantee is the pain at loss or the happiness at gain.