- Dec 8, 2013
- 2
- 1
- 7
Hi folks,
A month ago my 8 month old Copper Maran hen had nodules of dry poop on her vent and was losing feathers in the neck area. I added apple cider vinegar to her drinking water, bathed her vent in warm water and sprayed with mite spray twice, even though I can't see any mites or lice on her neck or vent. There's been no improvement in the feather loss dept., but her butt is almost all better and she's active and still laying eggs.
Today I noticed a lot of feathers in the coop from my barred rock hen, who seems to have developed the same symptoms: caked poop on vent and has lost a lot of tail and vent feathers (but no neck feathers). When I picked up the Barred Rock to examine the broken feather stems around her vent and check for pests, a clump of feathers came off in my hands. I'm enclosing a couple of pics and would greatly appreciate any help identifying the problem. Is this vent gleet? It's been raining in my normally dry state (NM) and it could be that they ate some mouldy feed (feeders have since been cleaned, emptied, refilled, and placed in dry place under the coop). If it is vent gleet, though, why on earth would my maran be losing neck feathers? (I've read that losing vent feathers is common with gleet).
A little more info:
Hens are eating organic feed, getting fresh veggie scraps, drinking fresh water with no vitamins or supplements.
I have 8 hens, all purchased as chicks in the Spring, so am ruling out molt, especially given the poopy butt symptoms. (The other 6 are currently unaffected).
I haven't observed any feather-pecking behavior.
A month ago my 8 month old Copper Maran hen had nodules of dry poop on her vent and was losing feathers in the neck area. I added apple cider vinegar to her drinking water, bathed her vent in warm water and sprayed with mite spray twice, even though I can't see any mites or lice on her neck or vent. There's been no improvement in the feather loss dept., but her butt is almost all better and she's active and still laying eggs.
Today I noticed a lot of feathers in the coop from my barred rock hen, who seems to have developed the same symptoms: caked poop on vent and has lost a lot of tail and vent feathers (but no neck feathers). When I picked up the Barred Rock to examine the broken feather stems around her vent and check for pests, a clump of feathers came off in my hands. I'm enclosing a couple of pics and would greatly appreciate any help identifying the problem. Is this vent gleet? It's been raining in my normally dry state (NM) and it could be that they ate some mouldy feed (feeders have since been cleaned, emptied, refilled, and placed in dry place under the coop). If it is vent gleet, though, why on earth would my maran be losing neck feathers? (I've read that losing vent feathers is common with gleet).
A little more info:
Hens are eating organic feed, getting fresh veggie scraps, drinking fresh water with no vitamins or supplements.
I have 8 hens, all purchased as chicks in the Spring, so am ruling out molt, especially given the poopy butt symptoms. (The other 6 are currently unaffected).
I haven't observed any feather-pecking behavior.
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