Hi everyone,
So I'm new to chicken keeping. We have our first chicks, and yesterday we moved them out to the coop and run (at three weeks old). They loved it, and everything was going well. Today we went out to play and visit with the chicks, who all appeared completely healthy and happy. One of the friendlier chicks flew up to and perched on my arm. While her wings were outspread, I noticed a strange yellowness underneath them, in the armpit area. I gently lifted her wings and found these scabs underneath one of them:
Whatever it is, it's small. Very small. Her other wing is completely fine, and her vent is too. Four of the other five chicks have nothing whatsoever, and the only other one has a single, lone scab (again under just one wing, with nothing under the other and nothing on the vent). I'm concerned that this might be a very early stage of mite or lice infestation. But in just one day? I don't know if this is really plausible, and though we have let them outside to play in the past, it was always under supervision and never for more than an hour.
I did notice the tiniest of bugs walking near and around the scabs. It was a red bug, and it appeared as though there were a few others like it in a huddle on the surface of her largest, most swollen scab. (Well, I did see a green bug on her too, but it was an aphid. Aphids don't present any threat to chickens, right?) Any chance someone could identify this for me, and let me know if there is anything I should do to help her? By the way, I don't know if it makes a difference, but the two who did have scabs on them are the two who turn up their little beaks at dust-bathing. The others dust-bathe incessantly, it's probably their favorite thing next to eating.
So I'm new to chicken keeping. We have our first chicks, and yesterday we moved them out to the coop and run (at three weeks old). They loved it, and everything was going well. Today we went out to play and visit with the chicks, who all appeared completely healthy and happy. One of the friendlier chicks flew up to and perched on my arm. While her wings were outspread, I noticed a strange yellowness underneath them, in the armpit area. I gently lifted her wings and found these scabs underneath one of them:
Whatever it is, it's small. Very small. Her other wing is completely fine, and her vent is too. Four of the other five chicks have nothing whatsoever, and the only other one has a single, lone scab (again under just one wing, with nothing under the other and nothing on the vent). I'm concerned that this might be a very early stage of mite or lice infestation. But in just one day? I don't know if this is really plausible, and though we have let them outside to play in the past, it was always under supervision and never for more than an hour.
I did notice the tiniest of bugs walking near and around the scabs. It was a red bug, and it appeared as though there were a few others like it in a huddle on the surface of her largest, most swollen scab. (Well, I did see a green bug on her too, but it was an aphid. Aphids don't present any threat to chickens, right?) Any chance someone could identify this for me, and let me know if there is anything I should do to help her? By the way, I don't know if it makes a difference, but the two who did have scabs on them are the two who turn up their little beaks at dust-bathing. The others dust-bathe incessantly, it's probably their favorite thing next to eating.
