Chicken pecking

[Troy]

Hi all

 

Apologies if this is going to be long, but some advise would be appreciated, as I am pulling my own feathers out now!

 

We have a beautiful flock of Pekin Bantams that appear to be suffering from depluming mite. It started off some 7/8 weeks ago with 2 of the girls losing feathers around their heads and neck area. (It isnt neck moult.) Now all bar one have the same thing with our top hen pulling out feathers around the underside of her neck area. I have checked for lice but see none with the naked eye (our 5Yr old Pekin who is black is a great help in detecting nits/lice) and we dont itch! They were recently double dosed with Flubenvet and when feather loss was first spotted, we Ivermectined too in case it was lice we couldnt see. However, none of this treatment has worked which tells me they/this thing is not a blood sucker. The feathers around their heads are fuzzy with the skin looking sore. The problem is where it is, around the top of their heads, neck, basically very close to their little faces!

 

Ive read that Frontline spray is affective against depluming mite, but wonder if ;

a) It can be anything else I havent thought of

b) there is atreatment that will hit the little critters hard without stressing the birds with sprays and so close to their eyes/face etc

The rest of their feathers, backs, vents are all fine.

 

Finally, we have monitored our Salmon Pekin, who looks great by the way, as when we first introduced her to the flock she had a thing about pulling feathers out at the back of the other birds. We know she was a show bird and before we got her, she had never been out. She had no clue about free ranging or indeed how to behave with other birds, but is now a different girl and enjoying being a chicken. The feather pulling stopped but of course we suspected her until this last week. Summer will not touch our black girl Molly, who is Head Girl . She has nothing but total respect for her and Molly wouldnt allow any of the girls to ruffle her feathers! There are never any feathers in the house either, but always in the run and outside.

 

Sooo, I would very much appreciate some feedback, so that I can get my beautiful Bantams back. They are all fed a good balanced diet and mealworms.

Incidentally, I have found a poultry vet fairly close to me and have booked an appt for a couple of the girls on Friday.

 

Thanks all

Troy

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I'd be interested in the responses to this as I have a girl with similar sounding feather loss and a completely bare bum . However, it's only one out of five so I've been assuming it's not mites as the others would surely have them as well? She's been like this for weeks too. She used to be such a beautiful girl, it's a real shame.

 

Hope you don't mind but I've posted photos to see if yours are looking similar.

 

Edited May 21, 2012 by Guest

[Duncan08]

Someone else has posted about feather loss around the neck and been advised by a vet it could be a fungal infection. (White Face)

 

As two of my girls have lost feathers on their neck, (The other three are fine) I might try some Daktarin to see if it helps.

[Troy]

Oooh wow, your poor hen ! Mine have a full plume everywhere else, but the neck and head are stripped of feathers only. I took three girls to the vet this afternoon, as he was intrigued and booked us in during his lunch! More of that in a minute...

Apologies if this is obvious as i know you're not new to chickens, but have you tried Ivermectin? Harkamectin for Pidgeons is available to buy from pet stores and although 'not intended for poultry' absolutely gets rid of MOST mites and lice. 2/3 drops on the back of the neck, should be sufficient, although it must go directly on to the skin. It comes with a dropper so its fairly easy to do, but there is egg withrawal for at least a week. Please let me know as I too am curious! Incidentally, her legs look a little thick, if you dont mind me saying, has she had scaly leg mites, because they also can spread to the head and body. We had that last autumn and got rid of those with Ivermectin.

 

The vet, who actually specialises in dermatological issues, checked the girls and took a s"Ooops, word censored!"ing. And guess what, he said the skin was not inflamed or sore which is what he expected to see if it was DM. No mites evident either. Which brings us back to Summer, the salmon Pekin. He believes she is the culprit, so we have isolated her for a couple of weeks, to see if this will make a difference. £45.00 later and back in the garden, we actually witnessed for the FIRST time, Summer systematically pulling neck feathers out of one of the others, who just sat there letting her do it. As shes not pecking them and shes a dominant hen, they dont move! Not sure what to do with her if it is her, but Ill cross that bridge when I get to it. She is absolutely stunning and super kind, she just doesnt get it

 

Ill keep you posted. Once removed the girls should start to grom new feathers.

Troy

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Thanks, I have used Ivermectin before but not for a wee while so I'll give her another dose. Her legs aren't smooth, you're right, again I did use Scaley Leg on her but probably need to do it again.

 

Didn't occur to me that could be related to the feather loss .

[Troy]

Let us know if there is any improvement after she is treated. Its always nice to know youve managed to nail the little critters.

[Duncan08]

ANH, my girls have the same sort of feather loss as yours.

I have just given Chilli a through examination, baldy throat that follows down onto her chest but is covered over by some feathers, her bum is still feathered, but the base of her tail as yours is, is threadbare around her preening gland.

 

There are bald patches, the skin is pink and healthly looking on her front, but a bit red and angry looking at her tail. No sign of any creepy crawlies whatsoever. Some of the feathers are broken, which was why I had put it down to her breaking them off when she sticks her head through the wire.

 

I turned her over and had a look at her tum which is not bald but thin, skin looks pink and healthy here too.

 

Stumped

 

Think I will have to find a good chicken vet, our vet is more for pets, the receptionist had to ask if they did chickens last time I had to go which probably isn't a good sign.

 

Off to search!

[AndreaT]

Sorry to bring this post back to life but did any of you find out the cause of the feather loss in your girls? I've got the same symptoms in 4 of my girls. I've treated them with ivermectin (not licensed for poultry) but was wondering of there was anything else I could be doing.

 

This is Crystal, she's the worst.

 

and VC with her balding bum!

 

The other two just have balding necks.

Bolli;

Tatti;

 

They are laying and happy enough but they look terrible!

Thanks!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Strangely it's only one of my girls who's suffering. I also dosed with Ivermectin and I think there are signs of feathers coming through but it's hard to tell at this stage.

[Troy]

Andrea,

I'm glad you did bring this up again as I was going to update anyway. Your photos and description of what is happening around the neck is EXACTLY what the girls are experiencing here. Thanks for posting them too. We have no feather loss around their bottoms etc, but the neck and particularly around the throat area, they do have bald patches and reddish skin.

 

As per the vets instructions, we isolated the Pekin suspected of pulling feathers (and we did see her do this as I mentioned before!) but it just didnt look like a feather pulling/eating situation. The girls were constantly preening and dust bathing under the hedges and I mean virtually all day! With the amount of feathers in the beds, I just knew it wasnt Summer. Reading a lot more about it I am now convinced that it is the depluming mite, which has apparently taken off this year along with Scaly leg mite, so we made good use of the weather last Friday and did a thorough Cube/Run Poultry Shield pressure wash AND built up the courage to wash all 8 girls in Johnsons dog flea shampoo. By what Ive put together I understand that Ivermectin doesnt work on the DM although it does on the SLM. However, recommendations to bathe the girls in Johnsons dog flea shampoo, which contains a natural form of Pemethrin, does kill DM. I was very worried that my little girlies would all catch horrible colds and die, because of my bathing, but I must say they seemed to actually enjoy it. and more importantly...am I now seeing new feather shafts coming through??? I think I am, but I dont want to get too excited yet. Time will tell and I shall certainly pass an update on if you wish. Incidentally, dust bathing has returned to the usual morning ritual and they seem far more 'at ease'. Far less feathers around, though neck areas are still red. Will bathe again me thinks.

 

Heres hoping you both dont have hundreds of birds, I would say a good wash in a tub trug with Johnsons flea shampoo might be a huge step to getting your girls 'dressed' again.

 

Good luck

Troy

[Ain't Nobody Here]

That's interesting, Troy, I might well try that treatment .

[AndreaT]

Thanks both.

 

I actually bathed 3 of mine the other week using an insecticidal shampoo for small animals but I didn't do Cristal as she is a nightmare to catch, the only time she's ever let me touch her is when she was broody! That could explain why she is worse than the others. Hopefully the weather will pick up soon and I'll be able to bathe them again.

 

I'm due to go back to the vets tomorrow so I'll ask if she has any treatment for DM.

 

I thought is was feather plucking too and isolated the girl I thought was doing for two weeks. It didn't seem to make any difference to their condition though. I even bought some bumper bits but there's no way I could fit it by myself so I've given up on that idea!

 

Incidentally I was at the farm supply shop yesterday picking up some feed and I asked the chap for some advice. He said to make sure I was giving them a high quality feed and I also picked up a scratch mix which has lots of seeds in. He said this would help with feather regrowth.

[Redwing]

Mixing flowers of sulpher powder In to bathing water is supposed to be good for deplumping mite

 

I would say though that DM is often blamed for a situation which has a more straightforward answer

 

Cockerel damage is usually the cause of neck feather loss and/or fluffy feathers where the back meets the tail (which I can see in one of two of the above photos) in the absence of a cockerel one of the hens may tread the others (not always a dominant one either) so it's worth ruling that possibility out

 

If there is a hen that is suspected of pulling feathers on the other you could try anti peck spray or a bumper bit and see if the feathers start to grow back

[Red girl]

Out of my 5 girls only 1 has lost feathers but i dont know if depluming mites or feather pulling !!

It is only were her tail meets her back as when i got her she had some missing from there due to her being treaded by cockerel. I got them february.

I have seen the feathers start to come back but i have caught both other girls and herself pick at them. I have sprayed purple spray and anti-pecking spray but neither worked.

As it is not happenind at her neck does this mean is not depluming mites i have checked them all over and cant find anything but am at my wits end trying to stop this

Have thought of seperating her but as she picks at them too dont think it would help

[AndreaT]

Thanks Redwing.

 

A cockerel was the first thing my vet said but I don't have one. I haven't noticed any treading but when I checked on them after they'ed gone to roost the other night one of the girls was sitting on top on another (there's only 4 in a cube so plenty of room!), could that do it?

 

I've tried anti-peck sprays, the most recent one is this, without any luck but I shall try again. Maybe I'm not putting enough on? It seems to distress them so I tend not to go too mad with it And what it doesn't tell you on the can is that it is brown, not such a good luck on a white hen!

 

I shall also see if I can find a willing volunteer to help out with fitting a bumper bit.

[sage]

I have a 1 girl out of 3 with no neck feathers and a bare bum. I have seen her get the odd feather pulled out but nothing much.

She is otherwise very healthy and she gives me an egg every day.

Will try giving her a bath in Johnson flea shampoo this weekend.

 

Sage

[Troy]

Okay, Yes I am definately seeing new feathers coming through! Picked Libby up, who was a bare necked Pekin last week and there is a full covering of stiff feather shafts around her head and neck popping through. She was as bald as a coot last week. I will check the others closely later tonight and fingers crossed they are heading the same way. Our top hen Molly has the largest area of red skin and missing feathers around her throat and as shes now 5yrs old, might be finding it harder to pick herself up? I too have been advised to give lots of extra protein in the way of cat food (Lilys organic) and they love it, so hopefully another good bath in Johnsons should do the trick..

 

We may not all have the same problem, but a bath in dog flea shampoo might be a good preventative anyway?

Best of luck all

Troy

[Troy]

Sorry, forgot to add that I also bought a small tub of Johnsons poultry scaly cream. Its essentially sulphur in an oily base and I have gently rubbed it into the featherless areas also. I thought if both mites are a Sarcoptid mite and burrow under the skin, a smear of this cream would help to suffocate any remaing mites and also give the girls some relief.

[AndreaT]

I was just out in the garden inspecting Cristal and she has feathers growing on the back of her neck! Maybe the nasty anti-peck spray is working and the culprit has moved to pecking her back because of it. I shall give them another spray tonight and definitely get a bumper bit sorted.

 

I do think they've had some form of creepy crawly though as some have had messy bottoms so I shall give them another bath once the weather warms up again ( ).

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Sorry to say that Beth died this morning. She'd had a small prolapse which had been slightly pecked so I had her in isolation in the house. The prolapse seemed to be responding to treatment and she had loads of new feather shafts coming through but yesterday evening just seemed to go downhill really quickly. She was obviously poorly this morning and when I came back from marshalling at the Moonwalk, she'd gone .

 

I do wonder if she had some underlying condition I wasn't aware of as the feather loss didn't seem to be bothering her .

[AndreaT]

Sorry to hear about Beth

[Egluntyne]

Sorry to hear that ANH.

[Troy]

Sorry to hear your sad news too ANH. Always a little sad for us.

 

I wanted to add an update on our progress here with these mites as its been a learning curve for us here and a bit of a battle. However, if it makes it easier for anyone else out there with this problem, maybe this will be helpful.

 

The bathing went well as you know, but it didnt appear to be enough. We saw some girls improving whilst others were evidently battling still with this mite. Two of the girls last week were still looking pale, with featherless necks and throats and all were losing condition. So, last Tuesday we resorted to Frontline for cats (Pippettes) and gave 2 drops on the back of the neck to each girl. Frontline is not licensed for poultry, but our vet stated that Fipronil is successful in killing the DM and remains active for up to 30 days.

Th 2 girls suffering the most with this were neck and throat bare. My precious Molly (love her to bits) has always had the most beautiful pooffy fluff of feather covering, so much so that she glides everywhere rather than waddles like the rest of the Peeks and it was so upsetting to see her in this state. Anyway, we are finally seeing new feathers coming through on her throat less than a week after treatment, though flora has yet to convince us shes improving too. No new shafts on her as yet, though she was the worst affected.

 

ANH, I dont know if this mite can cause a bird so much loss of condition that she can potentially suffer from a secondary ailment, causing her other problems? I know my little chubby bums are not so chubby at the moment and Flora does look ever so pale.... They are eating and having lots of extras to get them through this, but I do feel its knocked them back healthwise.

 

Treatment seems to be working, but Flora will convince me 100% when I see my little Mille fleur in better health again...

 

Troy

[Leeloo]

I recently became concerned about my Australorp hen because of feather damage as well. She was missing her tail and lower back feathers when I got her because of mating on the farm where she lived previously. Her tail grew back, but after a year her back feathers are still thin and broken. I give her occasional protein with her layer feed in the form of cat food and mealworms, but they are not coming back in. The other hen is fine so I doubt it's mites. I've never seen her getting picked on and, in fact, her coop mate is broody right now so she barely stirs from the nest box. I've noticed that she loves to get in one particular pot and pick at the soil. I'm quite sure that it's not bugs. I suspect there's some mineral in there that she likes and wonder if she has a deficiency. She lays great so I'm not terribly concerned, but I wish those feathers would fill in so that she'd be less straggly-looking! She didn't molt last year. I'm wondering if they would grow back if she does.

 

ETA- I think she might in fact have lice. I'll stop at the feed store on the way home and look for something to treat them.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Sounds like you're doing all you possibly can, Troy, so I hope it works .