Peafowl 103: Illness, Injury, Medication and Care (in progress)

[Kedreeva]

Quote:
Yes, the term "solid wing" is much more accurate. But, people call a lot of things by names that don't make much sense anymore because that's what it started as

We are creatures of habit!

 

[connerhills]

The bird with black wings was a mutation in the wild in the 1800's ,I think and people thought it was a new color like the white and it was called black shoulder.. this color was around for a long time before it was discovered to be a pattern and not a color. A lot of the new color mutations have not been around for a many years and the term B S was pretty much fixed in history by the tiime it was know for what it is.. And will be that way for a long time to come.. When you call a bird a solid color many people do not know what that is in reference too. George

 

[KalikoFarms]

Yall are awsome!!!!!!!!!!! I learn something new everytime I come on here. Thanks for the answers about the oaten. The guy I have bought my peachicks from has had peafowl for over 30 years and he just calls them oatens. I thank you all for making me understand and I will continue to read and learn. Rita

 

[ChooksChick]

I've got a weird one:

On one hen, who lets me hold her, I noticed a weird bug on her feathers. It's plentiful, and looks like a HUGE mite. The younger ones are pale and semi-translucent, while the older ones are brown with a minute pattern on the back. They are VERY flat, and mover very fast. I haven't found a single one that is attached in any way. I treated her with Ivermectin and found more, alive and well, two days later.

What the devil are these things?

Edited to add: These are not poultry ticks, nor have I ever seen one on any of my other fowl...and I'm going to try to get ahold of my other peas to see who else has them.

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Hello ChooksChick,
I'm sure you will get an opinion from the experts, but that sounds like it might be flat flies?

 

[Kedreeva]

Heya Chookschick, sounds like feather/bird lice to me. They're flat, usually oblong, and much larger than mites (1/8 inch instead of 1/32 of an inch). There are actually a few different kinds, and Ivermectin may not work on all of them. Can you count the number of legs the things have? If it doesn't have 8, you can rule out mites for sure. If it doesn't have wings, you can probably rule out flies as well.

Here are a few pics/pages with different bird lice, maybe you will recognize one.

http://theyrtoast.com/usualsuspects/viewpest.php?id=28
http://bugguide.net/node/view/66314
http://www.terminix.com/Information/Pest-Identification/Biting_Insects/Bird_Lice/?id=pest-cvbd
http://bugguide.net/node/view/401657/bgimage

 

[ChooksChick]

Heya Chookschick, sounds like feather/bird lice to me. They're flat, usually oblong, and much larger than mites (1/8 inch instead of 1/32 of an inch). There are actually a few different kinds, and Ivermectin may not work on all of them. Can you count the number of legs the things have? If it doesn't have 8, you can rule out mites for sure. If it doesn't have wings, you can probably rule out flies as well.

Here are a few pics/pages with different bird lice, maybe you will recognize one.

http://theyrtoast.com/usualsuspects/viewpest.php?id=28
http://bugguide.net/node/view/66314
http://www.terminix.com/Information/Pest-Identification/Biting_Insects/Bird_Lice/?id=pest-cvbd
http://bugguide.net/node/view/401657/bgimage

Ugh. It's amazing how seldom I make YUCK-face, but it sure is apparent when I open up those pages and my face bends. It feels all wrong, because I'm super smiley, but it's just involuntary.

YUCK.

It's the bird lice. Thing is, I have had a different kind of lice on the birds before, and it's small...kind of like super-little sesame seeds running around on them. Never saw anything big like this, and no evidence of eggs anywhere, unlike the ones I'm used to. Ick. Now I'm all itchy again, just thinking about them...

 

[Kedreeva]

Yeah, they're really gross. There's a few threads on BYC about bird lice and getting rid of them that might be helpful- here's the first one I found.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/53578/bird-lice-how-do-i-get-rid-of-it

 

[theoldchick]

George appreciates all the good information


Although he insists the house is the only 'coop' he wants to be in

 

[ChooksChick]

I'm going to take all the birds off the property to a spa and drop a bomb on the farm, then start fresh.