Scaly Face Mites in Birds

Author: Aussie Vet Products   Date Posted:2 April 2014 

Heather writes:

My bird has scabby skin areas around its face and feet? Can you help?

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Hi Heather,

It sounds as though your bird is suffering from Scaly face Mites.

Scaly Face Mites mostly affect budgies, canaries or golden finches and cause a crusty appearance on the featherless areas of the bird including the face, around the eyes, above the beak, legs and feet. Scaly face Mites burrow underneath the skin and cause a thickening of the skin or scaly appearance.

If you are unsure if your bird is suffering from scaly face mite I would recommend a consultation with your local vet who will perform a skin scraping of the affected area.

To treat scaly face mites I would recommend a product called Vetafarm Avimec which is an ivermectin based product applied to the unfeathered areas of the skin. The Avimec must be applied weekly for 3 -4 weeks at the dose rate of:

Birds less than 30g body weight apply 1 drop, birds between 30-100g body weights apply 2 drops. 
If your affected bird is in an aviary with other uninfected birds, all birds must still be treated with Avimec to prevent further contamination.

Full recovery from Scaly face mites may take up to 6 weeks

Regards,

Dr Simon