carly wrote:
Nadia wrote:
Union County
This chick had a nice feed and full crop, but very black under the wings with parasites.
SGB is the parasite expert, I can never tell unless it's extreme like at Spirit Bluff. I remember at Rochester one year the kids were black under the arms and we worried but they checked out fine at banding.
LOL...not really the expert (others much more qualified than I), but have learned what to look for ON CAM and when to worry...I'm sure most chicks have some parasites, black in the armpit is not necessarily a sign of infestation. I start to worry If: black moves to the neck area (like a collar, particularly noticeable from the back), down the spine, throat, and/or tummy...from any of those spots, black can encircle the shoulder at the top of the wing, then down the wing..in most cases what we see aren't bugs, but either dried blood (from the blood suckers) or skin sloughing off (like black dandruff) combined with feather loss..Other than visual signs, chicks can have problems standing or righting themselves if they flip over (usually because they've become anemic from blood suckers) They will even continue to eat, laying on their backs if they can..The infestation was so bad at the Black Dog nest several years ago, the chicks looked almost black. Only one chick survived and they named him Bugsy. Took us forever to convince them that something was wrong. They had a problem at the DuBois nest several years ago and got there as fast as they could, but still lost one chick..
That's about the extent of my knowledge...