[henamoured]

Wonder if anyone could advise please? I'm getting so confused!
I've got a 26 week warren hybrid. She came to me as POL and I was told she was about 18-19 weeks. She's bottom of the pecking order and has always been a bit quiet and often apart. As she is still not laying I was beginning to wonder if her pale comb was a symptom - so I have wormed all girls with flubenvent a month ago. After spotting a couple of lice I frontlined 10 days ago and repeated after 7 days ie last Friday. For the last couple of days I've noticed she closes her eyes quite often and hunches her head up.
Now, when looking her over today I've seen some mites under her wings (in her 'armpits' but nowhere else). These are grey/black and looking at pics I think they might be chicken mite.
Please can anyone advise whether the frontline will have killed these off and these are just the remains. Should I giver her a bath to get rid of the (hopefully dead) mites?
Do you think the continuing pale comb might be anaemia?
I'd really appreciate any advice as I'm not sure what to do next? Perhaps vet?
Thanks in advance.

[Casey76]

Has her comb changed much is size/colour and shape since you bought her?

On the mite/louse front - have you got any, I think it is, Johnsons mite spray?  Cheaper than frontline and lots of people swear by it for mites.

[Pretty Chick]

She came to me as POL and I was told she was about 18-19 weeks. She's bottom of the pecking order and has always been a bit quiet and often apart.

I bought 2 more black rock hens around 3 months ago. They were sold as POL but 1 of them (called Marigold) didn't start to lay till about 5 weeks after we got her. The other (called Ebony) has only just started laying. Ebony was extremley scared of the others and spent lots of time standing by herself and closing her eyes, while Marigold settled in. Ebony hasn't any lice or worms though.
However, now Ebony has become right in the heart of the 'hen group'. She's much happier than she was and allows me to pick her up.
Marigold has grown more scared than when we first bought her. She used to allow us to pick her up, but now she's as scared as anything  . She still mingles well with the others though.

So I guess Ebony hadn't started to lay because she was so unsettled. This might be the case with your hen, but you said she has mites, so that is probably the problem.

[henamoured]

Has her comb changed much is size/colour and shape since you bought her?

On the mite/louse front - have you got any, I think it is, Johnsons mite spray?  Cheaper than frontline and lots of people swear by it for mites.

Hi Casey, thanks for the reply
No her comb hasn't really changed in the last 6 weeks. 2 weeks ago she started doing some really noisey laying type rosey and I thought that was the beginning of something - but nothing happened after that!!
I've already done the frontline - just not sure if it will have killed the mites?
Pretty Chick, thanks for the reply. You've hit the nail on the head - because that's the other thing that's confusing me. When she's out of the run on her own she's a different hen, tail up, lively and cheekily confident! Perhaps the eye closing is just bottom of the pecking order behaviour?

[Casey76]

If her comb hasn't changed at all in the past six weeks, then I think she was probably quite a bit younger than 18/19 weeks when you bought her!

Pullets reach "adult" size quite quickly, probably within 10-12 weeks for hybrids, but it takes much more time for them to "mature"  When she is ready to lay you will notice her comb becoming larger and much deeper in colour - this can happen quite quickly - within the space of a week for some of my hybrids last year!

Her comb will also have a different texture due to the increased blood flow.

Having said that, if you have had her for 6 weeks now, then you shouldn't have to wait that much longer!

[joyfull]

Check to see if the mites are still alive and if they are treat again (they could have been eggs that have hatched).

[henamoured]

Thanks for the replies both - I'll have another look to see if they're live - euhh!!
Having done the 2 lots of Frontline drops in the last 2 weeks, do you think it's safe to apply once more? Or try another treatment - Johnsons antimite spray perhaps?
Looking through the site about this I've come across ear mites too, which I believe you treat by spraying directly into the ear canal. Watching my poorly little hen she seems to be shaking her head and I thought she might have this problem too. Poor little thing it's just been one thing after another for her.

[joyfull]

I would get a vet to check her over the head shaking could be mites or even something else and also see what they advise about the treatment of mites if they have survived two doses of frontline.

[henamoured]

Thanks for the advice Joyful. I've checked and the mites do seem to be dead at least, but she still exhibits other symptoms so vet booked for Monday. Thanks again.