Sick Hen? Mites? Pictures Attached

[urbangardengirl]

I have a hen I purchased as a pullet a few months ago. She was one of four and was healthy until a few weeks ago. She picked up a serious limp a few weeks ago when we had heavy winds, but with careful watch has been favoring her bad leg less and less. She seemed to be fine finally, with only a minimal limp and a few missing feathers, which I attributed to being picked on by other hens. Now I notice she is noticeably smaller than her flock mates and has yellowish growths on her neck and beak, as well as more feather loss and a crusty appearance on her head. I have a few pictures attached. I can try to get better ones if need be, but am in this CA fire watch area and it is so windy today that I am having difficulty getting a good pic.

Does anyone know what this is and how I can treat it? I am looking for pictures online but am having no luck. I will say that I believe she has mites as well. I picked her up today and had one crawl on my hand. I have never had this issue in the 7 years of keeping chickens. Could this be from mites?

She is still eating and drinking normally, and has never laid an egg to date.

Thank you in advance for any information you have to offer!

 

[AGeese]

Well if it's either of those things or a combination she needs to be removed from the flock for starters.

 

[urbangardengirl]

Well if it's either of those things or a combination she needs to be removed from the flock for starters.

Yes, thank you. She's in her own pen now. I moved her a few days ago. I had them all free-ranging during her injury. I now have them all cooped due to the excessive winds and possible need to evacuate. It will be easier to gather them all up and get them to safety if necessary.

 

[StinkyAcres]

You will need to treat all of your birds and the coop with a Permethrin dust or spray and repeat every 10 days or so until the mites are gone.
I'm wondering if the yellow growths are avian pox or canker but it's hard to see what's going on in those photos.
Any yellow chunks in her beak?
Any raised scales on her legs?
What is their diet (including treats, supplements, and the amount of each)?

 

[urbangardengirl]

You will need to treat all of your birds and the coop with a Permethrin dust or spray and repeat every 10 days or so until the mites are gone.
I'm wondering if the yellow growths are avian pox or canker but it's hard to see what's going on in those photos.
Any yellow chunks in her beak?
Any raised scales on her legs?
What is their diet (including treats, supplements, and the amount of each)?

 

[urbangardengirl]

The spot on her beak could be a yellow chunk, no raised scales on any of their legs. I feed them organic layer crumbles by Scratch and Peck. The only treats they get are scraps from my garden or leftover veggies from our dinner. They were free ranging throughout the garden for about a week and turned over a few beds for me, so they had access to worms and grubs for that period of time. I don't give them any supplements except some electrolytes in their water during the hottest summer months.

I also just came back in from checking on them again, and another hen is doing a weird neck bobbing thing. Definitely will be treating the whole flock and entire coop and run area for mites as soon as our wind dies down. Supposed to be wicked windy this whole next week.

Video attached of the weird neck bobbing that just started this afternoon. I am out there with the girls off and on every day. Whatever is going on is happening fast. I just separated her from the rest of the girls. I am running out of extra coop space. Hope the rest stay well until I can figure this out!

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/l0ju...ey=isswnv6ya2ehjvi8vedj8vv9i&st=cm411drk&dl=0

 

[StinkyAcres]

Neck bobbing is what they do to adjust their crop. Usually it's nothing to worry about but it can indicate a crop impaction if it goes on for longer than a day or so. Check her crop to make sure it is a normal size and empties in the morning.

 

[StinkyAcres]

I don't give them any supplements except some electrolytes in their water during the hottest summer months.

Do you supplement with oyster shells or egg shells for calcium? Have any of them had egg laying problems?

 

[urbangardengirl]

I haven't supplemented lately but do have oyster shells that I can put out now. I do crumble up egg shells from time to time and throw them in with the veggie scraps, but am probably not being consistent enough with it. I am getting 2 to 3 eggs a day from the 6 of laying age. I can't tell if the others are molting or also have an issue with mites to cause some feather loss and lack of laying.

I have a call into a local vet that does flock checks, but again with these fires, getting a call back is not expected any time soon. I will check the other hen's crop, thank you! I guess I have been lucky up until now, no issues of any kind for the last 7 years, so I feel like a newbie with all of this.

 

[StinkyAcres]

A mite infestation can significantly reduce egg production.