Northern fowl mite?

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Icemaiden

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I've seen a lot of what I think might be Northern Fowl mite on my araucana, on her back where her new feathers are growing through. They're pale brown & less than a millimetre in length, quite fast moving. I don't think they're lice, as I can't see any eggs. Around her vent looks fine too.

I've dusted all of the girls with diatom this evening & have ordered some 1% ivermectin over the internet as I couldn't find any locally.
Questions are:-
1) Does anyone have a photo of Northern Fowl mite that they could post please?;
2) As only one hen appears to be affected & they've all been dusted with diatom, can I just treat her with ivermectin or do I need to treat them all with it?
3) If the latter, what's the egg withdrawal period for the layers?
4) If I can't eat the eggs, can I feed them back to the hens in a warm mash?
5) If all of the hens have ivermectin, do I wait another 4 months before they need flubenvet again? I understand that ivermectin kills any worms as well as mites & lice.

All advice welcome please, as I've not experienced this before. Thanks.
 
Hi Icemaiden. Northern Fowl Mite feed under the skin. You can't really see them that well but would see bloody scabs that appear to be moving. They are tiny. Eggs are laid in the feathers which then appear 'dusty'. We have had loads of problems with it this year (posted about it earlier) and treated ours with Frontline spray. An infested bird gets 1.5mL per Kg body weight, the others in the coop get 0.5mL per Kg body weight. The cockerels seem to get it first.

I haven't got photos but I have seen some -may have been in Practical Poultry.

We don't use Ivermectin so I can't help with the other questions I'm afraid. We have fed our hens scrambled egg though and they love it.
 
Hmm. Thanks for your reply, Chris; now I'm not sure. There are no bloody scabs that I can see.
I dusted all of the girls with diatom on Saturday evening, & Millie's now looking a lot less infested, though there are now a few of the same small pale brown critters around her rear end. I was thinking of giving her backside a clean, as the feathers are a bit soiled. At this time of year, should I dry the feathers afterwards with a hairdrier, given that it'll be within an hour of her bed time when I get home to clean her feathers?

When she's dry, I'll give her another "dry shampoo" with diatom, & probably do the other girls again.

Does anyone else out there have experience of
a) small pale brown critters under a millimetre in length, present on their hens in the day time, &
b) use of ivermectin to eliminate the above, wrt dosage & egg withdrawal times?

Thanks,
Icemaiden.
 
I expect you've seen the page on Poultrykeeper about Northern Fowl Mite, Icemaiden, here http://poultrykeeper.com/external-problems/northern-fowl-mite
It recommends louse powder and possibly Ivermectin, though says this ahold be used on vets advice re dosage. I would imagine louse powder would perhaps be more effective than diatom as presumably it's diatom plus some kind of insecticide. Unfortunately this article hasn't got a photo yet.
When you say her feathers are a bit soiled, do you mean they just look dirty, as the article suggests may be the result of NFM, or are they stuck up with poo?
 
Icemaiden if you can see what looks like mini fast moving sesame seeds then it is more likely a common poultry louse. As chris has intimated in your case it does' t sound like nfm. My poor birds here are plagued with nfm so i am always on the lookout, i catch any outbreaks very early and often the only signs in the early stages are what looks like a "wet" patch , that on closer examination a slightly greasy, yellow and dark patch at the root feather with what looks like a sprinkling of fine black pepper. If left then these patches spread and very quickly develop into sore scabbed areas where the mites have burrowed under the skin causing great irritation to the bird, stress and weightloss. It is an odd mite as although has the ability to afflict all the birds in one coop, seems just to pick one or two and really drag them down if not tackled swiftly, which is why i bring out the big guns straight away and this is one of the rare occasions i will use frontline. Hope this helps! Oh there are some good images if you google just now i am a bit limited online
 
Thanks for the advice. It sounds as though it may be lice rather than NFM, as there is no scabbing; it's just that on the chickenvet & poultrykeeper websites, I got the impression that lice were quite a bit bigger than what I've seen. Millie's critters are pale brown / straw in colour & no more than 1mm long. Oh, & her bottom feathers have dried poo on them rather than anything else, as she has a very fluffy derriere.

I couldn't work out if louse & mite powder was any different to diatom, which is why I used the latter, as I already had some. The ivermectin's now arrived; should I use it or not, if it might be lice rather than NFM?
 
Ah. I'm just reading the PIL that comes with the ivermectin. It says not to use during the main (pigeon) moulting season. Millie's just growing her new feathers at the moment. Do I need to wait for her feathers to grown through before I treat her?

If the dosage is 2 drops for a pigeon, what is it for an araaucana (or equivalent sized hen), & what is it for a hybrid (e.g. ex-batt)?
 
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