treated for mites - when should feathers improve?

[JacobMaxwell]

Last Friday I treated my chickens for mites with a poultry approved insecticide powder. I plan to treat again in a week. Anyways, many of my hens still have a moth eaten appearance and some still have grey mite dust in their feathers. When should I expect the feathers to look nice again? My chickens look really (tattered feathers/feather loss) bad right now so I sure hope I can solve the problem.

 

[CMV]

Well, the tatty appearance could hang on for several months. I am not sure where you are located, so I am going to take a stab and guess you are in the US. I also am not sure how old your birds are. The feathers will improve when they have their next molt, which should be anywhere from late summer to early winter depending on age and productivity. Any lost feathers should be replaced more rapidly than that. If their appearance really offends you, you could give them all a bath after they are mite-free. That will get the gray dust out of them, but it will also start coming out on its own now that it is not being replenished regularly by the mites. The birds will groom it out pretty quickly. Unfortunately, dealing with feather damage is not an overnight process. You should start seeing an improvement fairly soon, but they are not going to be beautiful, fluffy, and pristine again until they molt. Sorry.

Good luck.