[drumcrow]

Hi all
just a little question one of my hens has a red patch under her vent. vent area its self is fine. she has either mites or lice or bought i noticed a small round gold looking thing and a long in shape again gold lookin in colour crawling around the red area. now does any one know if there lice mites or what or will i just go to the vets and get a mite lices spray.

[SnooziSuzi]

was the gold coloured thing coming out of her vent?  if so I'd say she has a parasite and you need to get her to the vets for the right treatment, and will likely need to treat your whole flock with it because otherwise it will just re infect the other birds.

Any chance of a picture?

If it looks like a wound then it could be a maggot of some kind, although I have never seen this myself.  Some of the other forumers may have done though.

good luck with getting it sorted.

[treacleminer]

It sounds like a chicken louse to me - you will need to treat her and all the rest of your flock.  Have a look in the poultry information section - Aunt Sally has done a detailed posting on external parasites which is very useful

[karlooben]

sounds like lice , get some johnsons lice an flea powder for birds most good bird centres or pet shops will sell it , then spray with frontline on the back of the neck about a week later that should clear them up pretty fast . i used frontline drops for cats last year and havent had a prob since .

[dizzylizzie]

Frontline, kitten strength works a treat! its not registered for poultry, but ive used it as have many others on here . Some use spray, a couple of sqwirts the the neck (never under the wings) but i use drop, again 2-3 on the back of the neck....soon sorts the crawlies out. You will have to treat all your hens and give the coop a through clean with new bedding etc.( i would burn the old stuff if you can). Good luck!

[Bev]

Hi, I am only a newbie but I was recommended to spray my hen house with poultry shield each time I clean it out. I clean them out twice a week and probably spray a bit of poultry shield around about once a week. They say to pay particular attention to ends of perches and nest boxes. Haven't seen any scratching or red patches yet!

Bev

[dizzylizzie]

Hi, I am only a newbie but I was recommended to spray my hen house with poultry shield each time I clean it out. I clean them out twice a week and probably spray a bit of poultry shield around about once a week. They say to pay particular attention to ends of perches and nest boxes. Haven't seen any scratching or red patches yet!

Bev

Hi Poultry shield is fantastic, and kills/ prevents redmite. It wont stop lice on your chickens as they live on your chickens and not in the coop. The reason why you would get rid of the bedding is in case they are a few strays ones that have dropped off and are waiting to climb back on. praying with poultry sheild twice a week is very enthusiastic! I wouldnt not spray this often, even in summer unless i had red mite (which i havent). I spray once a month in the warmer months,but others do it differently