POL started laying....then stopped ?

Update, and possible connected issue.....

The Flubenvet appears to have done some good, she is now looking much more spritely, and not puffed up and lethargic, her comb is fairly pale but reddening a little, and I think the only reason she is not laying now is a mini moult.....however....

....as she had a mucky bum, we gave her a little bath today, she loved it, but as we were drying her, we checked the feathers around her vent and there were some little mite like creatures.

Now, in our 14 months of chicken keeping we are yet to see mite or lice, so i'm not quite sure what they were. They were not red, but a kind of cream colour with slight pink outline to their bodies. Her legs were fine, so they don't seem to be either red mite or scaly leg doodahs.

Any ideas what they could be ? I'm itching occasionally as I write about them, but there is nothing on me 

Diatom will work in time with getting shut of the lice. Try Frontline for cats / kittens as that will sort them out pretty quick. Its not licensed for chickens so has to be bought on the pretext of using it on cats. Put one or two drops on the skin at the the back of their necks and again every 4 to 6 months thereafter. Most people on here swear by it, similar to the use of Flubenvet for internal parasites.

Things sound like they are gradually improving for you.

Good luck.

Thanks for the frontline tip - so far have just used Barrier Red Mite powder on her a couple of times after a bath. So with Frontline, does it matter where you apply it ? The mites/lice appear to be around her undercarriage, will it work just as effective if applied to the neck ?

Also, is Diatom useful in an Eglu ?

We are building a wonderful supplies store of chicken health products now, whereas the first lot of hens we had required hardly any maintenance !

In stock lol:
Poultry spice/Poultry drink
Anti peck spray
Red mite powder
Flubenvet

always apply frontline between the shoulder blades as the birds cant reach there when preening, and yes it will work on those creepy crawlies near her under carriage. There is no egg withdrawal and yes diatom is OK in an eglu