Worms ON my chicken

[deacons]

I have a 2.5 year old Golden Comet who's had a tough go of it lately. She's had some laying issues and been generally under the weather, but is on the mend. However, last night I had a disturbing sight when I was shutting up the coop- she had these three little worms along her wing (if you click on it you can enlarge and zoom):


Her wing is looking raggedy because of pecking when she was sick, and a molt that followed the stress of giving her antibiotics, so that's why it looks rough.

When I saw these nasty things, I grabbed her and did a thorough inspection. There were no others elsewhere on her body that I could find. Checked under her wing, around her vent, all through her feathers down close to her body and along her head and neck- I didn't see anything else that looked like this. I did see a lot of new pin feathers and opening feathers, which I take as a good sign that she's getting healthier.

Right before this, she had been out freeranging with the rest of the flock, and I caught them in my tomato garden so am wondering if maybe these just rubbed off on her from a plant? Other than that, I don't know what these things are and really hope this is not one more sign of illness with her just when she was seeming a little better.

Any thoughts on what they are?

 

[GitaBooks]

They do look like they were rubbed off from plants. Offer a dust bath with wood ash in it to kill any external parasites.

I hope this helps. Best of luck!

 

[aart]

Don't look like worms...I see legs.
Hard to say what they are, they kind of look like lice.
But they could well be something benign to poultry.

Look around the vent(grab off roost at night) for more lice and egg clusters at the bottom of the feather shafts.

 

[deacons]

Don't look like worms...I see legs.
Hard to say what they are, they kind of look like lice.
But they could well be something benign to poultry.

Look around the vent(grab off roost at night) for more lice and egg clusters at the bottom of the feather shafts.

You know, now that you say that, you're right. They did have little legs that made them hard to pull off.

I did look down around feather shafts close to the skin and didn't think I saw the eggs-but have never seen lice before so not 100% sure what it would look like, just going based on pictures I've seen here.

Will take a look tonight and see if they reappear.

Thanks to you both for taking the time to reply!

 

[aart]

Quote: They are like a white colored 'cluster' at the base of the feather...pretty hard to miss.
Google Images

 

[deacons]

They are like a white colored 'cluster' at the base of the feather...pretty hard to miss.
Google Images

OK, checked tonight and saw nothing like that. Went down the roost checking vents and didn't find anything on any of them (aside from a few messier-than-ideal bottoms). No more bugs like I saw last night either.

So who knows, will add it to my list of chicken mysteries.