Sandychick Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Three of my hens have been losing feathers around their vents really quickly over the last couple of weeks. Matilda is the worst and has all her fluffy bottom feathers missing and bare skin instead I was thinking that it might be a feather pecking problem as 2 of them seem fine. After taking the eglu apart today, I've found quite a lot of red mite hiding away in there. The eglu has been jet washed and I put red mite powder on the bars and in all the corners. The hens have also been dusted with with red mite powder. I'm not sure if this is the cause of the feather loss though? Everything I reads seems to suggest that this is more likely to be mites or lice that live on the hen rather than red mite? I've checked a couple of hens for lice and I can't see anything. I'm thinking that I should try Ivermectin to cover all possibilities, but I've got a few questions. Does anyone know how many drops to use on a chicken (1 for a pigeon apparently!). Does it actually work? Also what is the egg withdrawal time when using this? I'm feeling quite bad about this as the eglu is usually jet washed every 2 weeks and I would have noticed it sooner. It hasn't been done for weeks because my garden has been such a swamp with all this rain it hasn't been practical to do it. They are still laying great eggs though and seem as happy as ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollyripkim Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 I used ivermectin 1 percent which I got on ebay, the dose says 1 drop per 500 gram so I use 2 drops on my pekin and 3 on the larger silkies and bantam orp. The instructions said to repeat once a week for the next two weeks but that was for lice to cover the life cycle. Not sure if it's the same for red mite. Don't feel bad, it's hard with all this weather, I'm sure if they were really heavily infested they wouldn't be laying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimi5 Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 I had redmite quite badly in my wooden coop 2 years ago, but their feathers were not affetced I would be very suspicious of feather plucking/pecking having just experienced a bad bout of this with my girls (not over yet but dealing with it) The culprit was the only one with all her tail feathers and looking pristine, where as the others especially her poor sister...moth eaten, Tilly with a handful of tail feathers left!!!!! Pekins should have a lovely bussel Have yours been confined to their run? Any moulting lately? These 2 factors combined started all my woes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandychick Posted March 2, 2014 Author Share Posted March 2, 2014 Thanks for replys -I'll order some Ivermactin now I know what to do with it! I did consider it might be feather pecking, but the hen which is worst effected is top of the pecking order - it would be a brave chicken that pulled her feathers out The 2 that haven't lost any feathers are the lowest hens in the group so it doesn't seem very likely. As they have only lost feathers from their vent, and one also under her wings it seems more likely that it is lice or mites causing the problem (even though I can't find any ). I'll try the Ivermactin and hope that works - won't be a bad thing anyway. Does anyone know what the recommended egg withdrawal time is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
