6yo Maran scratching, missing feathers

sunshineyarns

Songster
8 Years
Mar 23, 2011
123
1
111
I'm very concerned about my 6 year old Ruby girl!! I noticed she was missing some feathers about 6 weeks ago, but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. I thought she might be molting? Then, we were gone for a few weeks, and came home to even more missing feathers, and very bumbly looking skin around her vent. She is now also missing a bunch of feathers under her wings and tops of her legs. Non of our other chickens are going through this. She seem so to also have some dark spots under her skin around her vent. And, she does seem on the thin side.

We did clean the coop and put down some DE and wood ash over the past two weeks a few times, but nothing seems to have changed. I can post some pictures in the morning....I'm just wondering if anyone has any mediate input. She seem way more bothered this weekend.

Also, she is laying totally normal, still creating 3-4 beautiful eggs each week.

Help!? Thank you!!

ETA: I also wanted to note, that none of our other chickens have this issue. We currently have 4 chickens and the other 3 are all happy and healthy. I did just send hubby out to the coop to inspect for mites. We have never dealt with any bugs to our knowledge... besides some shaving dust in the air, he didn't notice anything.
 
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Okay, here are some pictures.... I don't want to do anything crazy without any input. I also have a call into the vet. Her vent was not looking nearly this bad last week... I had wiped her clean last Friday as she seemed a little crusty, but its looking kind of crusty around there. As I mentioned above, she is definitely doing this to herself. I've been keeping a close eye on her this week, and she has been picking/scratching alot. We did do DE and cleaned the coop a few times since we got back from our trip. I still see no signs of any lice or mites, and have been reading a ton on how to spot them. Both hubby and I can't figure this out; and after 6.5 years of having chickens, we are at a loss.

And, now she is also missing some feathers on her back neck too...

A rundown of pictures:

Below is the top of her low back, above her tail.



Below is her wing



Two pictures of her feet, to just make sure we aren't missing anything... I did notice yesterday that she did pull a leg up once or twice. Am I just totally missing the scaly leg mites?!





Below is looking at her vent area from the side



So, here is her vent area. Its very red and feather picked all around it. She has some crusty poop around her vent and some stuff on her feathers below. Help?!?!



Another bare skin patch kind of under her tail....

 
Ok, tell you what.Cut those poppy feathers off.

Now, do you have Blu-Kote or other No-Peck cream, so,e thing like that?
Chickens target for skin, once they see scratched away feathers, they will go for it, till the hen is bald.
And you say she is doing this herself?
Odd....
Is the coop dusty?
Could she be having a allergic reaction to something?What does she eat?Including treats and scraps?

I'm purely lost here.
 
Okay, I'll go cut stuff off and will bring out a wipe to clean her up again... Alot of her feathers are breaking, like right now, she has two feathers hanging off that are broken. Not sure if that means anything. And, she has these bluish (bloody under skin?) looking spots. You might be able to see it in the vent area picture?

We haven't changed anything in the last couple months. Same supplier of pine shavings. Same coop. Same layer feed. They get some scratch here and there and we do kitchen scraps, but nothing out of the ordinary. Every so often I give them some plain yogurt and they get dried mealworms as a treat. Our coop is about 5x5 and our run is about 40 foot x 12 foot. Same run they have been in... They do free-range down in our yarn every few days or so as well.

Well, the coop was just a little dusty with the pine shavings at night. I don't think its overall super dusty. We did let it go longer over the Winter, but usually take out all the shavings and put new ones in every few weeks. Last few times we put down DE, and in their dust bath areas... as well as some wood ash (as I read here that was good for mites).
 
Our plan for right now is to have hubby pick up some No peck stuff later today... we will put some on her tonight, or in the morning depending on the time. Tomorrow we will clean out the coop again and put more DE down.

I have a vet visit scheduled for Thursday. Not sure if he is going to tell us anything. If anyone has any other input, please let us know. I hate seeing her uncomfortable and don't know what to do. I love this little lady so much... she is such a sweet girl.
 
Hmm.

Defintally apply to No-Peck.It tastes bad, so she won't peck herself.

I'm not sure why she would be doing this.Im not sure if you said, but did you go out at NIGHT on the ROOST with a FLASHLIGHT and checked her for mites/lice then?

I wish I could help you!I know how heart-breaking it is to see your girls like this!
(Trust me, I am very over protective.My girl, Brownie was all puffed up when I put them in so I carried her in and I said,"Mom, Brownie's all puffed up!"As I walk in the living room carrying a 13 pound EE.Ok, maybe Im exaggerating on her weight a little...)
 
My husband did check last night again at night on the roost and didn't see anything.... and, we didn't see anything on them.
 
I just wanted to post an update, as we took Ruby to the vet today to just get another set of eyes on her.

Vet agreed that she does not have lice or mites, and also does not have any internal parasites. She is on the lighter side, so he wants us to weigh her again in a couple weeks to see where she is at. Best guess he had was that it is a behavioral picking. I asked whether he thought she was itchy, and then picking, or just picking. Anyways, he suggested we use a 1% hydrocortisone spray on her.

His next guess is that there is just something else going on, and unless we want to do a bunch of testing, we just won't know right now. We passed on that for now and are going to try the spray.
 
Okay, I once again need some advice on my Ruby girl. She is still loosing feathers, and picking/scratching at herself. We had been treating her with the cortizone spray, but it seemed to make her more irritated, so we stopped applying. She is definitely loosing more weight, as her breastbone protrusion is getting worse and worse. She generally seems happy though, as I had them out free-ranging a bunch the last few days, and she was very happy running around with the other girls, doing her chicken thing. And, she is still laying.

I just hate thinking she is suffering at all. She is 6 1/2 years old. Do I put her down? She is one of my most favorite girls.... Our vet seemed to think that if it the cortizone didn't work, we could just try the no itch balm (the blue sticky stuff). She has about 1/2 of her body with no feathers, and it just seems like such a mess to apply. Thoughts? Our vet basically said without doing a ton of test, we have to just assume it is some other underlying issue.

Thoughts? :(
 
I was hoping for a good update :hit

Now, if I really didn't think it would be best, I would not say it.
I hate loosing birds, they are pets, and children.

But, Like you said, She's getting worse.If she doesn't start putting on weight soon........

I think the best bet for her, Is to put her down.

:hugs
 

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