Poorly chicken

[SueChick]

After my disappointment that the improvement only lasted 6 days - I went to the wife of the original vet (both vets but she's a poultry expert!)

 

She was amazing!! There wasn't a thing she didn't know!!

 

Great news too! My fears were unfounded as the Eprinex had worked and they are now completely critter-free!

 

The reoccurring feather loss after Eprinex was, wait for it.... Self eating!!! Apparently some hens like to eat their feathers (as do some humans with their nails!) Apparently it releases endorphins! Anyway, other than that strange behaviour she is fit as a fiddle. Vet confirmed she was not lacking anything in her diet.

 

Well done Dogmother you were right it was her all along but not stress induced - the vet said she keeps doing it as she gets a little reward each time!

 

The vet is in Snodlanf, Kent and I'm going to post a recommendation on here separately.

 

Great big thank you to everyone that has helped me with this big puzzle.

[SueChick]

UPDATE - all sorted please see last post on this thread)

 

I have been fighting an ongoing battle with one bald chicken - things tried:

 

Bullying (not that as others have bits on now)

Red mite/lice (sprayed and dusted to death!)

Allergic reaction to bedding (changed type)

Boredom (lots of enrichment)

Nutritional deficiency (poultry spice, limestone flour, moulting solution in water)

Natural moult (going on way too long as very sore bald patches)

 

I am now left with conclusion of depluming mite. I have been using Johnsons Anti-mite spray but I understand this doesn't work very well so I have ordered some Flower of Sulpur powder as per people's advice and I'm going to mix it with E45 and paint the sore bits with it.

 

I will let you how I get on - after reading lots of posts I think this is a more common problem than people think. We always hear about red mite/lice/northern fowl mite but not about depluming mite.

 

I will keep you posted.

[SueChick]

Oops see above!!!

 

UPDATE - all sorted please see last post on this thread)

 

I have been fighting an ongoing battle with one bald chicken - things tried:

 

Bullying (not that as others have bits on now)

Red mite/lice (sprayed and dusted to death!)

Allergic reaction to bedding (changed type)

Boredom (lots of enrichment)

Nutritional deficiency (poultry spice, limestone flour, moulting solution in water)

Natural moult (going on way too long as very sore bald patches)

 

I am now left with conclusion of depluming mite. I have been using Johnsons Anti-mite spray but I understand this doesn't work very well so I have ordered some Flower of Sulpur powder as per people's advice and I'm going to mix it with E45 and paint the sore bits with it.

 

I will let you how I get on - after reading lots of posts I think this is a more common problem than people think. We always hear about red mite/lice/northern fowl mite but not about depluming mite.

 

I will keep you posted.

Y

[afrowoman]

This is an old post but it came up in my search do I'm hoping my reply will be helpful to anyone dealing with this problem. Because the parasites burrow in the skin it's hard to see them and kill them. The best treatment I found is s76. It's ivermectin with slippery elm. You give it 3 days in a row then the next week you give it 2 days and so on until you give it once a month. The instructions are on the bottle. You have to be persistent.