OurFineFeatheredFriends
In the Brooder
We have 8 lohmann brown layers that we got last April when they were 17 weeks old. They recently looked like they were going through a moult, but then their necks began balding, followed by their breasts and undersides, and now near their vents. The bald patches appear to have had the feathers broken right off and some look quite raw. There is no blood, but there is some scabbing. We finally found a vet who would see one and she diagnosed it as mites (she thinks likely northern fowl mites) after microscopy from skin scrapings showed a red creepy crawly. She told us to use permethrin, also recommended by this site, but we are in Canada, and can’t get it here. To order it up through Amazon will take until June 27th and we don’t want to leave our girls suffering that long. We patted them all down with diatomaceous earth last night, and will again in 2 days, followed by a complete coop cleaning. We do have access to liquid ivermectin for cattle, but the vet was hesitant to try to calculate the dosing, as it’s off label for chickens. We don’t even know if it’s to be used orally or topically. Any advice would be very appreciated. See photos.
