Strange disease? Or some defficiency?

[Newbreed]

Yesterday I found one dead Cock.
First I thought it was killed by an older cock.
Later I noticed that there are some other chickens that are weak.
They struggle to walk it looks like their knees are weak. Some prefer just to sit.
This desease must have been going on for some time now.
First I noticed that some of the Chickens not having much feathers and I thought they are molting.
Then I noticed their skin going red in some Places. And now they are starting to get weak.
Does Anyone have an Idea what could be the cause of this?

Best Regards:
Newbreed

 

[darbella]

Have you checked them for lice or mites. They can make them weak due to blood loss. I see on BYC about giving vitamin B and it is suppose to give them a boost. I would check that last chicken (3rd pic) her legs loof like the scales are lifted and that could be leg mites. I am having battles here with respiratory sickness and the cold weather and snow is not helping any.

 

[Newbreed]

Thanks for your reply.
This ones legs looked like that when we got her.
The others legs are all looking clean.
For safety we treated them several times for legmites.
We also checked for lice and found nothing.
Maibe we could check for red mites at night.

 

[Newbreed]

I checked the chickens under their wings.
No mites found.

 

[CMV]

Did you check around their vents? Mites tend to hang out there. Honestly, with them looking so poorly I think I would just assume they had bugs of some variety and treat them and their environment accordingly. What did you use to treat the leg mites? I'd also be giving them some Poly-Vi-Sol (without iron) for any deficiencies they may have. What are you feeding them? Have they been wormed lately? They seem a bit thin. Of course chickens generally look thin when they are bald, but I would treat them for parasites both internal and external ASAP.

 

[Newbreed]

Ok I will find out what medicine is available in our area.
Guess not much because we are in a small town.
I treated them with Paraffine mixed with cooking oil.
Another thing I am concerned about ist the water, it is high in fluoride, can this affect the chickens?

 

[CMV]

How high is your fluoride? You can have your water tested by the state for free to find out specifically. In the meantime here's a link about safe levels of chemicals in drinking water for animals.
http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/t0234e/T0234E07.htm

 

[Newbreed]

I showed some Pictures at the local Veterinary services and they said they think it is Lice or Mites.
Now I am treating them with Karbadust. Active Ingredient is cabaryl. It helps them they are getting stronger and the feathers are growing back.



They sayd I should treat them dayli under the wings and in the vent area for fourteen days. Now I am on the eight day.
However I don't like this medicine because I am allergic to it. Is there any other effective medicine that is not as agressive to the Skin?
I heard someone say they treat their chicken with salt water. Does anyone have experience in doing this? Is it effective?

I don't know what to do with the eggs because I don't know if it is safe to eat them while treating The chicken.
Can one leave them for the chicken to incubate them or does cabaryl kill the embryos?

 

[mypicklebird]

The one on the right shanks and feet look like classic scaly leg mites. The terrible feather loss could be from poor diet and birds eating each other's feathers (what were they fed, what are they fed now?), depluming mites, heavy feather chewing lice, ect. What breed are they? Some breeds like frizzles can have really poor feathering if they are double frizzles. Keep them very separate from your other birds until you get this sorted out- depluming mites are nasty and hard to get rid of. Scaly leg mites too.

 

[Judy]

You don't have to treat them FOR fourteen days, you terat them once, then once more in fourteen days. At least that's what I've always read. With an infestation like that a third treatment is probably needed. You also need to clean and treat the coop thoroughly. You may have to keep putting something on their legs for the leg mites for weeks.

You can also use permethrin/pyrethrin dust or spray. Around here I can buy it in the feed store as poultry dust or from the WalMart or vet as Adams flea and tick spray. Or Ivomec Eprinex, a cattle wormer, which you put on their skin once then repeat in 10-14 days. It's about $40 a bottle, though, and you only need a little. It will only kill the bugs that actually bite the chicken, but AI imagine you've killed all the others now, escept maybe for some eggs that haven't hatched yet.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=203048&p=2

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=425486

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=412676&p=1

The carbaryl won't kill the embryo. I don't know of a good answer on eating the eggs, especially since you say you are allergic to it.