Skin issue - Please Help! Do we need a vet?

[StefneyRSA]

New and first time chicken momma here. What could be going on with Lulu here? Her skin is crusty and dry, her wattles and comb are pale and very dry (almost looks like craft glue that’s peeling off) and her face is white (like baby powder).

She has also not been growing new feathers at all, I clipped her fluffy but about 6 weeks ago when I treated her for mites/lice, but her feathers aren’t growing back (the rest of the flock all have theirs back and have doubled in fluff the past month).

I don’t see any evidence of lice or eggs, but sprayed her anyway. She had Ivermectin drops about a month ago, and two weeks before.

Her head is balding, I assumed due to her being the roo’s favourite, but upon inspection it looks like it’s a skin condition causing the bald spot. Her underbody and butt is also going bald.

Please help! We’re in South Africa, so it’s winter here now, very dry but not really cold.

Haven’t inspected the rest of the girls up close yet, but some of them also seem to be going white around the faces (I just thought it was dry skin due to the season we’re in).

 

[Eggcessive]

She has some pin feathers growing in as seen in the third picture, but other hens could be picking them out. She looks like she is molting, and in winter, they can have flaky skin and dry combs at that time. Favus, a fungal infection, can cause white chalky combs and wattles, which can spread to the skin. You could put miconazole antifungal cream on those daily to see if it helps. What do you feed her? I would recommend giving her 1/2 tablet of a B complex (multiple B vitamins with biotin and C) daily which might help skin and give her a boost. Can you see any lice or mites on her body or under her vent? Let us know how she gets along.

 

[Sickbirds]

New and first time chicken momma here. What could be going on with Lulu here? Her skin is crusty and dry, her wattles and comb are pale and very dry (almost looks like craft glue that’s peeling off) and her face is white (like baby powder).

She has also not been growing new feathers at all, I clipped her fluffy but about 6 weeks ago when I treated her for mites/lice, but her feathers aren’t growing back (the rest of the flock all have theirs back and have doubled in fluff the past month).

I don’t see any evidence of lice or eggs, but sprayed her anyway. She had Ivermectin drops about a month ago, and two weeks before.

Her head is balding, I assumed due to her being the roo’s favourite, but upon inspection it looks like it’s a skin condition causing the bald spot. Her underbody and butt is also going bald.

Please help! We’re in South Africa, so it’s winter here now, very dry but not really cold.

Haven’t inspected the rest of the girls up close yet, but some of them also seem to be going white around the faces (I just thought it was dry skin due to the season we’re in).

My hens have had the same issues for the past 5-6 months. I brought one to the vet and it’s not favus. I’ve tried many topicals and dietary supplements for the dry skin and nothings helping. I think it’s some kind of burrowing mite. I’ve tried ivermectin topical and didn’t help, elector psp didnt help. I finally found moxidectin did stop feather loss and feathering on head, neck etc did start coming back in. The problem with moxidectin is that it’s supposed to be used once every 21 days, but only twice. After which it’s not to be used again for another 3 months. So currently it’s been 3-4 weeks since the second dose and my hens are loosing the new growth and skin is drying out again. Maybe it’ll help your birds. Please let me know if you figure anything out. Poor girls.

 

[Antiocheggers]

Hi I seem to be having the same issue with Rose. What is that? I have isolated now to better treat her but with what? I did give her a warm bath in Ebson salt and then sprayed with the purple stuff. Any ideas ?

 

[alinas2010]

Hi I seem to be having the same issue with Rose. What is that? I have isolated now to better treat her but with what? I did give her a warm bath in Ebson salt and then sprayed with the purple stuff. Any ideas ?
View attachment 3896285View attachment 3896289

Have you considered that could be from one of the others yanking feathers out? It looks an awful lot like when the lowest in my flock kept getting her feathers yanked on, same area, too. Here is a pic:

 

[StefneyRSA]

My hens have had the same issues for the past 5-6 months. I brought one to the vet and it’s not favus. I’ve tried many topicals and dietary supplements for the dry skin and nothings helping. I think it’s some kind of burrowing mite. I’ve tried ivermectin topical and didn’t help, elector psp didnt help. I finally found moxidectin did stop feather loss and feathering on head, neck etc did start coming back in. The problem with moxidectin is that it’s supposed to be used once every 21 days, but only twice. After which it’s not to be used again for another 3 months. So currently it’s been 3-4 weeks since the second dose and my hens are loosing the new growth and skin is drying out again. Maybe it’ll help your birds. Please let me know if you figure anything out. Poor girls.

Oh wow thank you, that’s a lot more complicated than I was hoping for.

I might take her to my horse’s vet to look at whatever it is under a microscope. I’ve treated with Ivermectin and Permethrin when she had lice/mice (that were visible) and it worked within a week. But now she’s not looking good.

Seems like I’ll have to give everything a try and see what works. Will keep you posted!

 

[Antiocheggers]

Have you considered that could be from one of the others yanking feathers out? It looks an awful lot like when the lowest in my flock kept getting her feathers yanked on, same area, too. Here is a pic:View attachment 3896316

Yes I have so I spread an No peak on her. But it didn't seem to help. Do you cover your hen area?
But, there also a place on her chest also.

 

[alinas2010]

Yes I have so I spread an No peak on her. But it didn't seem to help. Do you cover your hen area?
But, there also a place on her chest also.

She had some missing on her chest, too, but not as bad. I tried an apron on the one getting picked on, it did help, but it was tough to get her acclimated to it. She freaked out at first. Eventually she molted and the feathers grew back. We never had as much of a problem after the first year of them establishing the pecking order.

 

[Antiocheggers]

She had some missing on her chest, too, but not as bad. I tried an apron on the one getting picked on, it did help, but it was tough to get her acclimated to it. She freaked out at first. Eventually she molted and the feathers grew back. We never had as much of a problem after the first year of them establishing the pecking order.

Thanks, She is an older bird and I think I know who is doing the pecking.

 

[StefneyRSA]

She has some pin feathers growing in as seen in the third picture, but other hens could be picking them out. She looks like she is molting, and in winter, they can have flaky skin and dry combs at that time. Favus, a fungal infection, can cause white chalky combs and wattles, which can spread to the skin. You could put miconazole antifungal cream on those daily to see if it helps. What do you feed her? I would recommend giving her 1/2 tablet of a B complex (multiple B vitamins with biotin and C) daily which might help skin and give her a boost. Can you see any lice or mites on her body or under her vent? Let us know how she gets along.

Thank you!

They get starter crumble that’s 19% protein, and then I was giving them a multivitamin and amino acid (like poultry cell) in their drinking water, but stopped with that a few weeks ago, so I’ve started that again. And then I give them a syringe in the mouth of a vitamin boost every month, I’ll treat her weekly for time being.

Yes I have so I spread an No peak on her. But it didn't seem to help. Do you cover your hen area?
But, there also a place on her chest also.

She has some pin feathers growing in as seen in the third picture, but other hens could be picking them out. She looks like she is molting, and in winter, they can have flaky skin and dry combs at that time. Favus, a fungal infection, can cause white chalky combs and wattles, which can spread to the skin. You could put miconazole antifungal cream on those daily to see if it helps. What do you feed her? I would recommend giving her 1/2 tablet of a B complex (multiple B vitamins with biotin and C) daily which might help skin and give her a boost. Can you see any lice or mites on her body or under her vent? Let us know how she gets along.

thanks so much for the reply!

She has some pin feathers growing in as seen in the third picture, but other hens could be picking them out. She looks like she is molting, and in winter, they can have flaky skin and dry combs at that time. Favus, a fungal infection, can cause white chalky combs and wattles, which can spread to the skin. You could put miconazole antifungal cream on those daily to see if it helps. What do you feed her? I would recommend giving her 1/2 tablet of a B complex (multiple B vitamins with biotin and C) daily which might help skin and give her a boost. Can you see any lice or mites on her body or under her vent? Let us know how she gets along.

Thank you! I’m in South Africa so will see what I can get as far as an Anti Fungal cream suitable for poultry is concerned.

I have them on a starter crumble with 19% protein. They free range on my lawn every other fay for about half a day at a time.

When I got her in May she had visible lice/nits in her fluffy butt, so I cut all those feathers as short as I could (so poop couldn’t get on her feathers and so that the lice didn’t have cosy place to live in anymore), and sprayed her with Permethrin and did 2 treatments of Ivermectin two weeks apart (treated the entire flock just as a precaution, some of the others had evidence of lice too, but by the second treatment they were all clean).

I don’t SEE anything this time around though. Her comb got pale progressively over the past 10-days, and I noticed the feathers behind her head about 4 days ago and inspected her 2 days later because it seemed worse. That’s when I flipped her over and noticed her belly and chest were also going naked, and the feathers I cut off a month or so ago haven’t grown at all (the other hens are all fluffy again and you can’t even tell their butts were trimmed).

Her demeanour seems the same though, and I’ve never seen her get picked on (she’s the roo’s favourite and I’m pretty sure she’s the dominant hen too - she’s the smallest but she’s definitely in charge of the other 7 hens).

I’ve added a booster to their water with amino acids and multi vitamins, and gave her 3ml orally of a vitamin boost syrup for poultry.