Poultry Parasites
Northern Fowl Mite
The Nothern Fowl Mite cause skin irritation on fowl and also infections, they bite breaking the skin causing a great deal of discomfort to the birds. Their eggs are grey in colour resembling dust crested breeds tend to suffer more from the Northern Fowl mite than most other breeds and they can quickly go blind due to the mite getting in around the eye area. Treating can be done by a mite spray used for pigeons or also a mite shampoo on a small scale luckily we have never had Northern fowl Mite and I hope we never will.
Scaly Leg Mite
These little creature burrow under the scales on birds legs cauing the scales to become raised and fall off they cause alot of pain on bird and often you will see birds in discomfort walkin with this. They are very hard to see as they are white in colour and it is usually to late before you find them. Preventing this is very hard as you have to look very closely and at the slightest sign of raised scale treat the birds by dipping their legs in either surgical spirit or Duramitex we tend to use surgical spirit dipping our birds legs three times a year we have never had this problem yet and constant disinfecting of the roosts and house with Poultry Shield keeps these mites at bay.
Red Mite
This is the worst of the parasites to get its effects on birds are devastating living in the house and going on to the bird at night these are like small vampire like mites. By day they hide in any little crack or nook they can find normally skin colour once fed they turn a bright red coulour hence the name. These little mites if missed and let establish can cause havoc on a flock of birds killing birds at an alarming rate, regular checking of poultry at night makes these mites easily found being red when feeding. Birds will seem pale in colour and uncomfortable with red mite and this will lead to anaemia and death if not treat quickly we use Red Mite powder from Barrier health products there is also a soluble version available for spraying the houses with also poultry shield is another good product and you can avail of this at Old Mc Donalds pet shop in Carlow they supply a wide range of poultry health products .
Lice
Common parasites in poultry are lice, red mite, northern fowl mite and scaly leg mite all of which can cause big problems given the chance. Lice are probably the most common parasite and can cause problems with egg production and also in the breeding pen , they are simple to find just check under the birds tail they are long and sandy in colour . The vent area is perfect for these lice as it is warm an moist the eggs are white in colour and usually hatch after a ten day period , they can live for up to 3 months on a bird if not treated. The best way to deal with these is by pulling off the lumbs of white eggs and treating the bird with a good louse powder from Barrier we use this product and find it excellent for treating lice. Shake some powder under the tail area and under the wing making sure to wear gloves gentally work the powder down to the base of the feathers this is a good way to tackle the problem head on.
