What's wrong with my chicken's comb

[Newbie18]

Hi all, I'm new to chickens and can use some help. This is Ms. Red who is 8 months old and from Flagstaff AZ.

Flagstaff is not your typical Arizona warm sunny weather. We live in the mountains where it's super dry and snowy and drops below freezing almost every wintery night. Red sleeps with her 8 other sisters under the heat lamp. Her food is hanging to avoid pests and her water is inclosed in a heated nipple waterer. We do put Organic Apple Cider vinigar in the girls water. We also use pine chips in the chicken run.

We had a lice issue so we cleaned the coop and sprinkled it with food grade DE. We also treated the girls for lice too. We have a chicken bath with wood ash, DE and sand but none of the girls use it so it's pretty pointless.

Red's is isolated and her symptoms are:
*White shriveled comb
*extremely Watery Diahrea
*Sleepyhead
* lice
* Not laying eggs
*Yes she eats and drinks

Could lice cause these problems? Or is it something else?

All the other girls have blackish spots on their Combs but have no other problems except for the lice.

What should I do?

 

[BjaJra826]

Sorry but that looks like frost bite! My hens got hit hard with it this year here in Iowa. We had wind chills in the -10F to -30F and I couldn't bring all 25 of them in the house lol. Vasoline can help prevent but after it's happened not much can reverse it in my experience. As the tissue dies the healthy tissue wall develop a scab, then a skin layer, then the dead bits will fall off. Don't pick them off, just let it heal naturally. I hope this has helped!!

 

[dawg53]

Use Permethrin dust and dust her to kill lice. It's too cold to use the Permethrin spray. You'll have to dust nest boxes, bedding and roosts as well. You can buy it at hardware stores or feed stores. Redust her in 10 days to kill lice hatched from eggs. Then give her Poultry Nutri Drench orally, one drop twice a day for no more than 7 days.

 

[Acre4Me]

You dont say how old Red is, so maybe a light molt on top of lice issues. But, yes, lice can cause problems for chickens.

DE isn’t going to get rid of the lice. You should get something with permethrin, usually a concentrate that you can dilute in water. Then spray the vent, under wings, and any other area with lice or eggs. Some people use poultry dust, but I find that messy, but it does work, as long as you get it down to the skin. The dust contains permethrin. Permethrin is the synthetic version of natural pyrethrin (as I recall), and this is present in marigolds. There is no egg withdrawal when using this stuff. Treat again 7-10 days after the first treatment to kill the Larvae that came from the hatched eggs.

often it is beneficial to provide electrolyte solution to a sick/under the weather bird. You can also use Nutri-Drench for A few days. However, ALWAYS offer plain, clean water (no additives, including ACV) in addition to any modified/enhanced water. Often those that use ACV will do so only about 1x per week, rather than every day.

 

[Newbie18]

Sorry but that looks like frost bite! My hens got hit hard with it this year here in Iowa. We had wind chills in the -10F to -30F and I couldn't bring all 25 of them in the house lol. Vasoline can help prevent but after it's happened not much can reverse it in my experience. As the tissue dies the healthy tissue wall develop a scab, then a skin layer, then the dead bits will fall off. Don't pick them off, just let it heal naturally. I hope this has helped!!

Will the comb grow back?

 

[Newbie18]

You dont say how old Red is, so maybe a light molt on top of lice issues. But, yes, lice can cause problems for chickens.

DE isn’t going to get rid of the lice. You should get something with permethrin, usually a concentrate that you can dilute in water. Then spray the vent, under wings, and any other area with lice or eggs. Some people use poultry dust, but I find that messy, but it does work, as long as you get it down to the skin. The dust contains permethrin. Permethrin is the synthetic version of natural pyrethrin (as I recall), and this is present in marigolds. There is no egg withdrawal when using this stuff. Treat again 7-10 days after the first treatment to kill the Larvae that came from the hatched eggs.

often it is beneficial to provide electrolyte solution to a sick/under the weather bird. You can also use Nutri-Drench for A few days. However, ALWAYS offer plain, clean water (no additives, including ACV) in addition to any modified/enhanced water. Often those that use ACV will do so only about 1x per week, rather than every day.

Red is 8 months old. I more or less use the ACV for algea purposes and not so much for health purposes.

 

[Newbie18]

We gave all the girls a bath using dog flea and tick shampoo with pyrethrins. We dryed them with blow dryers.

They all stretched out flopped on there side and took naps while we dried them off. They didn't move except to roll over and let us dry the other side.

 

[Newbie18]

Can lice cause Red's diarrhea?

 

[Acre4Me]

We gave all the girls a bath using dog flea and tick shampoo with pyrethrins. We dryed them with blow dryers.

They all stretched out flopped on there side and took naps while we dried them off. They didn't move except to roll over and let us dry the other side.

it IS funny how chickens like to be blow dried, the bath-not so much!

 

[Duckfarmer1]

Will the comb grow back?

In all the reading I’ve been doing about frost, if that’s the issue, the comb will likely lose its points...don’t apply anything to it righ5 now, as it will make it worse, and more painful. People have posted many before and after pictures of chickens with frostbite...they did lose the tips of their combs, but it was really just an issue with looks...it did not cause long term problems...just treat the lice.like 3veryon3 is telling, but don’t apply Vaseline or anything to the comb, because it has been found to just be more painful to the chickens.