Chicken with gray head feathers and loosing her tail feathers

reggiechick · Jan 29, 2015

I have a bird that is under a year and already got gray head feathers and loosing her tail feathers. She is growing meaner by the day, too! What is happening to her. She never lays a fully developed egg either. They are always tiny and the yoke is clear.

dawg53 · Jan 30, 2015

She's getting old eh? LOL.
Inspect her for lice/mites around the head area and closely inspect her vent area where it's warm and moist. She also could be in a mini molt.

Wol1 · Jan 30, 2015

Two of my Black Australorps did a mini molt the first fall after they hatched. They were 7-8 months old. It also started with gray feathers on the head and proceeded down the neck. BUT I have no idea what could be causing the strange eggs. We have an Americauna who, as far as we can tell after watching for the right number of green eggs in 24 hours, has never laid an egg. She is definitely not a rooster. Maybe a reversion to the wild Jungle Fowl which lays doesn't lay eggs continuously?

She's now 2 years old and in good health, so must not be internal egg laying.

Wol1 · Jan 30, 2015

More info. This hen may be a late layer and these are her first attempts. Odd eggs are explained on this page (found it in another BYC thread from 2008:
http://www.poultryhelp.com/oddeggs.html

If you type "no yolk" in search under the egg-laying section of the forum, you will find some others who have had this issue.

Chicken with gray head feathers and loosing her tail feathers

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reggiechick

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dawg53

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Wol1

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Wol1

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