Severe Mites AND Fowl Pox??

[Wyorp Rock]

Okay, so I've got injectable Tylan 50 that I’ll probably dose her orally since I’m seeing they need it multiple times/day and I don’t want to stick her so often. I’ll do the ivermectin pour-on tomorrow and keep updating! I also picked up Sav-a-Chick stuff and Nutridrench, so I’ll give her that, too.
Fingers crossed. She’s our longest-lived, and ironically, most often sick chicken. If any would pull through, it’s probably her.

Thank you again for your help, everyone!

Oh, I would dose orally for sure.
Tylan50 dose is 0.25ml per pound of weight given orally 3 times a day for 5 days.

Hopefully she will show improvement. Keep us posted.

 

[Sk8inChick(en)]

The sore on the side of her mouth looks like it burst, it's bloody, so I'm guessing she scratched it. I put a little betadine on the external part of the sore and rinsed her eye with saline. I have her locked in the coop by herself, the rest are in the run. She looks like she really doesn't feel good. I just gave her one dose of Tylan50 and her first ivermectin treatment (I did 0.2ml on the back of her neck).

Is there anything else I should do at this point?

 

[Banana01]

Thank you all for your help! I really appreciate it.

@Ursuline Chick Unfortunately our chicken vet is out of town until February, but we do have his email. It sounds like iron would be good for her, but I don't know where to start with that for chickens. We have been feeding her baby food with a syringe (a tiny bit at a time in the tip of her beak, careful not to get any down her throat or tilt her head). She's not acting herself, normally she's the boss and she's just sort of hiding now. She is interested in drinking, so we've gotten her to drink a little unflavored Pedialyte.

@Aunt Angus and @Eggcessive I'm not familiar with MG, but I'm reading about it and that does seem to match her symptoms...I'm hoping that is it, since it sounds like it's treatable? I saw they sell the Tylosin at TSC, so maybe I'll pick some up.

She's not currently isolated, but the other 3 chickens do seem fine. I checked them and no swelling, eye issues, or lesions in their mouths. They're all eating and drinking fine, acting normal. My mom said Kitty started getting sick several weeks ago (I live out-of-state, but home for the holidays), so I would think the others would have gotten it by now if she was contagious? I don't know, though, I'm not familiar with these diseases.

For the ivermectin, is it better to use the pour-on? I thought I'd have to give her something internal since they're on her face and in her nose, and I can't really pour it on her face. I've never used it, though, so I don't know which is better. Egg withdrawal isn't an issue, she's post-henopause haha. I did spray the coop and roosts down with Permethrin about two days ago.

I'm wondering if the mites have taken over because she's weak from being sick? Or maybe she's just old and frail? She's going on 10. The others have very few or no mites at all, and they don't look thin or sickly.

The insects all over her body is a life threatening emergency. Those little black dots look like lice maybe, at least not the type of mites I see every day. You probably should look into a permethin bath or dusting her body. When I think mites, they are tiny and invisible, but they do the same damage as lice i imagine and cause death from long term exposure.

Your assesments are correct so far. If you can remove the mites she may pull through, and the pox may go away. But her advanced age is certainly a huge factor. My oldest hen is maybe 2 years, and 9 years old is very advanced. Everything will start to go downhill if they arent taken care of fast, and ivermectin is maybe not fast enough.

I hope she can pull through. I have a permethrin liquid that i spread on the infested areas of mite infestations around their head, but her whole body is covered. I do not know if the permethrim you have can be used to dust her or bathe her, but I am sure there is a recipe for a way to bathe her in it or dust her. I dont know how ivermectin topical works for mites and ot seems slow, but permethrin works when I out it on the bugs, i use it on my dogs ears too when they get infested. I have ivermectin i have never used it for emergencies because it seems slow for mites, even though internal worms it is okay. Oral ivermectin isnt really reliable.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The sore on the side of her mouth looks like it burst, it's bloody, so I'm guessing she scratched it. I put a little betadine on the external part of the sore and rinsed her eye with saline. I have her locked in the coop by herself, the rest are in the run. She looks like she really doesn't feel good. I just gave her one dose of Tylan50 and her first ivermectin treatment (I did 0.2ml on the back of her neck).

Is there anything else I should do at this point?

When you have time, get us some updated photos.

Poor thing. Does she still have a lot of gunk/material inside the beak?

I think you have it covered.

 

[Sara S]

Hello! I have a 9-year-old hen with a severe mite infestation (Northern Fowl Mite I think) but I think she also has Fowl Pox... yikes. We treated the entire flock for mites this past summer and all but hers cleared up quickly. We did some follow-up Permethrin powder treatments. She seemed okay, but in the last 2-3 weeks, she's lost a lot of weight (normal is ~7 lbs, she's down to ~4.4) and isn't really eating at all. I noticed a ton of mites on her, in addition to the vent & wings, they were on top of her feathers and on her face/nose. The other chickens had a few scattered on their vents last night and we powdered them, but nothing compared to Kitty (yes, that's her name).

Anyway, today my mom noticed her face was swollen on the left side, same side as her eye has been irritated on. I came to look and sure enough she's got a big lesion inside her beak. I thought it might be a canker, but it has no odor even when squeezed. Given that she also has the ongoing eye irritation (this came first), I'm wondering if this is wet Fowl Pox. I've never dealt with this before.

I'd still like to treat her for the mites, as I'm sure that stress isn't helping her recover from a virus (if that's what she has). I'm gonna see if our vet can prescribe oral ivermectin on Monday, but if not, I can buy the cattle injection solution from TSC and dilute it to give it orally (at 0.2mg/kg).

Do you all agree that this looks like fowl pox? If so, should I still go ahead and treat the mites as well? I seem to be reading that fowl pox has no treatment other than supportive care. I included some photos of her eye and the lesion in her beak for reference. The other birds show no signs of illness. Thank you in advance!
View attachment 2940222View attachment 2940223View attachment 2940224View attachment 2940225

Awww poor baby. I really hope she gets better. This isn’t my best area, my DE’d every month just in case.

 

[Sk8inChick(en)]

@Banana01 Yeah, they're pretty bad, but she's definitely got something else going on, too. I've never dealt with either before now, but their bodies look like mites to me. We did treat her and the others with Permethrin dust a while ago. It got rid of them on the others, but hers persisted. I have both liquid and dust, I've sprayed the coop with the liquid and the only bedding in there is sand with DE mixed in. If a Permethrin dip would help, I can do that. I'd just have to blow dry her since it's cold & wet outside.

These are two of them that crawled on my hand (ew). I think they look like mites?

@Wyorp Rock She does have gunk in her beak. I just went out there again and it's at least scabbed over now. I didn't syringe feed her this morning since it looked so painful, but did give her some just now and she seemed eager to take it. Here are some pictures I just took. The dried blood is from this morning.

 

[Sk8inChick(en)]

@Wyorp Rock I was thinking of doing a diluted Permethrin dip for her, as well, but on researching it I found an old thread where you'd advised against doing that in addition to the ivermectin, so should I just let that do its job? Should I also not use the powder on her since I did the ivomec? I know she has a bad case, but I certainly don't want to over-treat her and I have no experience with mites or lice.
What do you think? I really appreciate all of your help!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Do yo have a link to that thread?

Are the bugs still on her? If they are, then I would probably lightly dust her with permethrin dust just to help get rid of them.

 

[Sk8inChick(en)]

Do yo have a link to that thread?

Are the bugs still on her? If they are, then I would probably lightly dust her with permethrin dust just to help get rid of them.

Yeah! It's here! It sounded like they had a less severe case, though, and maybe weren't sure if it was mites or lice.

They're definitely still on her, poor thing. I did dust her with Permethrin tonight and tried to work it into the feathers most affected. I could be wrong, but I think I saw less on her tonight than earlier today. I'm planning on directly dosing her with some Nutridrench tomorrow. TSC was out of Poultry Cell, and Nutridrench was the only one they had with iron.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Yeah! It's here! It sounded like they had a less severe case, though, and maybe weren't sure if it was mites or lice.

They're definitely still on her, poor thing. I did dust her with Permethrin tonight and tried to work it into the feathers most affected. I could be wrong, but I think I saw less on her tonight than earlier today. I'm planning on directly dosing her with some Nutridrench tomorrow. TSC was out of Poultry Cell, and Nutridrench was the only one they had with iron.

Right, in that thread, the OP didn't see any bugs on the birds themselves, just in their housing. So big difference.

Wow, they are still on her? Have you treated the cage/bedding/area she's in with the Permethrin spray?
For dusting, I put the dust in a sock, then tap the sock onto the feathers, moving them around, this gives me some control over the dust and it comes out fairly fine, then I work the dust down to the skin.

The Nutri-Drench is fine, I would direct dose her at 1cc per 3 pounds of weight once a day.