white spots on comb

[sharol]

My EE (Hermione) has white spots on her comb that look like little seeds. I thought it might be lice (lots of wild birds around), but whatever it is is really stuck down. My fingernail couldn't dislodge one of them. There are no signs of parasites around her vent or under her wings. Anybody have any ideas? They have DE in their shavings, but otherwise have not been medicated for anything.

 

[chicken danz]

To me those look like healing wounds. Do you have a rooster or another hen that might be picking on her?

 

[sharol]

Of course it is possible, but I don't think so. There doesn't seem to be any soreness, either. She is toward the bottom of the pecking order, though. No rooster yet. He is still in quarantine for another week.

I'll keep an eye on her for the next few days and see what happens.

 

[ChooksChick]

Have you tried to use tweezers to examine further?

 

[charsbird]

That looks like scaley leg mites. Can you post a pic of the legs? Do any of your chickens have raised scales or crusty legs or feet? I would treat them asap as I believe the other birds can start to pic the comb spots, and then you have a real mess.

The leg mites can also take up residence on the comb & face. (happens all the time with parakeets called scaley face mites) I have had scaley leg mites on my chickens and saw a few spots on the combs, and it disappeared after I used ivermectin. If you're interested, do a search on "scaley leg mites ivermectin" to get dosage & also whether to use ivermection pour on or injectible ( which can be used orally) and has the added benefit of worming at the same time! Hope to see some leg pics.

Also, some people have luck with covering legs (in your case, the comb) with vaseline or oils, etc, but ivermection is so easy & thorough.

 

[sharol]

Thanks for the input. None of them seem to have raised scales or any foreign looking matter on their legs. I'll try the Ivermectin this weekend. I have the Dog flea stuff (Frontline +). Will that work? How much for LF chickens? Is there an egg withdrawl time?

Sharol

 

[hiddenflock]

If the scales aren't raised, I'm thinking that might be dry fowl pox. It doesn't usually do anything to the chicken other than white spots on the comb and wattles.

 

[sharol]

Sorry this is so late. I'll do that this afternoon when I get home. she wouldn't let me catch her in the rain.

Have you tried to use tweezers to examine further?

 

[sharol]

Is dfp sometimes pure white? I can't find any pictures of it that look like her spots.

If the scales aren't raised, I'm thinking that might be dry fowl pox. It doesn't usually do anything to the chicken other than white spots on the comb and wattles.

 

[theperdews]

We had a veterinary appointment for a horse, so just took the chicken with us because we needed to know if it was infections due to an upcoming show. My daughter has been excited all winter/spring to take 4 chickens to the 4-H Fair, and so we didn't want to just "wait and see," and either be in quarantine or make other kids' chickens sick.

The vet thought it looked like a sebaceous excretion, but it was really "attached" and wouldn't come off easily. He got a scalpel and took a scraping to look at under the microscope. After looking, he still felt it was sebaceous and not parasitic.

He thinks that this chicken metabolized the dewormer differently than the other chickens, as she had been dewormed 2 days before onset. We knew that the other examples we had seen that looked like this also happened to be EE/Ameraucanas (pea combed chickens). So, possibly these chickens are a little different in how they metabolize dewormers from the Fenbendazole/Albendazole family. It would be interesting to know whether the other chickens we've seen pictures of with this had been recently dewormed with that.

So, we will see if it goes away in a few days when she has finished metabilizing the dewormer. He suggested putting mineral oil on her comb to see if it helps us scrape off the crud by softening it.

Toni