What is this?! [WARNING! GRAPHIC IMAGES!]

[greenfamilyfarms]

"Depluming Mite
Another specie of mites that can cause problems is the Depluming or Feather Mite. Contrary to some reports this mite does not chew on the feather and make them fall out. Instead, the mite burrows into the skin at the base of the feather and irritates it, so the bird pulls the feather out in an attempt to eliminate the irritation."

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/14/external-parasites-of-poultry

"Laminosioptes cysticola is a small parasite that is most often diagnosed by observing white to yellowish caseocalcareous nodules ~1-3 mm in diameter in the subcutis. Careful examination of the skin and subcutis of birds under a dissecting microscope frequently reveals the mites. Destroying the bird has been the best control for this parasite, but ivermectin may be effective."

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/204716.htm

Could this be it?

 

[allen wranch]

I would go with the Laminosioptes cysticola.

You have good pictures of the problem. Contact the poultry division of A&M and find someone you can email the pictures too. It shouldn't cost you anything...

Where are you located ? Can you take a sample by ?

 

[JewellFarm]

Looks like it may possibly be some time of mite or maybe even lice eggs. I would definitely get started with some kind of mite treatment and see if that helps.

 

[siroiszoo]

"Laminosioptes cysticola is a small parasite that is most often diagnosed by observing white to yellowish caseocalcareous nodules ~1-3 mm in diameter in the subcutis. Careful examination of the skin and subcutis of birds under a dissecting microscope frequently reveals the mites. Destroying the bird has been the best control for this parasite, but ivermectin may be effective."

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/204716.htm

Could this be it?

Not sure but this picture was taken while we were butchering yesterday. These birds were beautiful and appeared in perfect health. We were in the process of removing feathers when I noticed this and ran for the camera. I had only seen it one other time in a hen that had diarrhea & later died. We closely examined every inch of the these roosters and found no parasites; whether it be in the water we were dipping in for feather removal , on the skin - outside of the red area around the feathers with the nodules as can be seen in the pictures, and all organs were healthy.

I will be going through all of my hens today to see just how many have this problem.

Thanks for the input. Will try to find other photos and see if this matches.​

 

[siroiszoo]

Quote:
Good suggestion. A&M is about 1 to 1.5 hours away. Would be much easier to email. Can find a phone number only. So, will call A&M tomorrow and see about email. I will go through my flock later today to see if any more are affected/infected. My husband burned the samples yesterday.

Thanks!

 

[siroiszoo]

UPDATE: Okay! It took me 5 hours but.... I caught, thoroughly inspected & dusted for lice & mites all of my 19 hens & two remaining roosters & both hen houses.

Out of 19 hens, 5 had lice eggs like shown in the pics at http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html.

Of those 5, one had active lice on her, and another had mites & mite eggs. These hens have been isolated and will be treated again until the cycle is broken. Guess I'll be spending more time on reading threads regarding lice/mite treatments.

As I said, all hens were dusted - I SO like the shake & bake (minus the baking, of course) suggestion that I found in one of the threads. It really helped get the dusting powder under the featers so well.

HOWEVER! I couldn't find a single other bird with the the same stuff on the quills as I posted in the pictures. Whatever it is, it is something different from the lice eggs. I will have to see if I can find someone at A&M who will be able to look at the pictures & decipher them for me since my husband burned the evidence yesterday.

If anyone comes across this and knows what it is by looking at the pics, I would love to hear from you.

And any further suggestion are welcomed, as well.

Sure do appreciate all the feed back. This site & all of you are great!

 

[allen wranch]

Lice/mites go in cycles, so the ones that did not have active lice may have eggs waiting to hatch that you didn't see.

You need to treat ALL of them every 10 days until you see no active bugs on anyone...

I just went through this with 28 layers and 2 roosters for two months. Keeping my fingers crossed I don't see anything in the next 30 days... (One of my roosters is big and mean, and the other one is very hard to catch !)

Good luck !

 

[montcapu]

that pic is definetly a graphic pic, I would not of been able to continue butchering if I saw that, but I hope you figure out what it is

 

[siroiszoo]

Quote:
Didn't matter. The roosters had to go. They were way too hard on my hens. Can't give them away. Too many people around these parts fight them. So we went with the most humane way. Must admit, was pretty unnerving to be plucking along and come across that! yuck!!!!

 

[siroiszoo]

Thought I"d update anyone who was following this.

Never got a chance to get to A&M with a sample - so that didn't work out.

I dusted everyone with a Sevin/DE mixture (simply to stretch it far enough to get the job done).

I isolated 5 birds that showed active signs of lice/mites & eggs.

Yesterday, I did a followup treatment on all birds as 10 days had passed by.

The results: Of the 5 isolated birds, only one still showed signs - I would guess cause she was one of the last to be treated and I didn't do a good enough job on her. The other four had almost no signs; any egg casings were dried up and flaked right off. The rest of the flock looked very good.

SOOOO, it was obviously parasites & poor management on my part that led to this. I have repented and promise to do better in the future.

Thanks to all for your helpful suggestions. I really appreciated it!