Having problemss with my flock. (Rooster Just died)

[MrsBachbach]

I will check the dates. Food Bank Food comes from our local food bank and is donated. It is not always available and I get that food because I donate my eggs to the food bank. I have not been feeding the food bank food for a couple months because it has not been available but I got 100#'s of it the other day and I have not fed that food yet the bags are still sealed because I have been feeding the stuff from my local feed store that was opened already. My flock is less than a year old I got them last May 22ND. I want to get this fixed because I enjoy the chickens and like donating the eggs. I have fed a couple bags of the food bank food in the past but they have had the food from the feed store the most. I think my biggest problem has been over feeding the scratch and cracked corn filling them up with the low protein feed as was suggested by some of you in this thread. I am hoping the problem goes away and the feather picking is not going to be a permanent behavior problem in the flock. If the problem persists I am not sure what else I can do but to get rid of these birds and start over with these lessons learned.

Thanks Mike

My concern with the food bank food would be freshness. I bet that stuff is a year old or more. I've seen feed at well known stores and local feed stores that were six months or even a year old. That stuff is just filler at that point and has no nutritional value. Hot weather deteriorates feed even faster. I was told by one manufacturer, feed needs to be used up by six months from manufacture date and in hot weather by three months.
Sorry about your rooster. Roosters cannot process or use calcium as readily as hens and it isn't a good idea to feed them layer feed all the time, but that guy was pretty young, so I wouldn't of expected problems from that so soon. However, old feed can cause nutritional deficiencies that can lead to ill health. The thing about chickens is they are expert at hiding their illness til the end. You have to really know your flock and their habits if you are going to catch an illness early on. One thing you can do to help offset old feed issues or poor nutrition is buy a vit/ min mix for their water, which is sold in most feed stores, and add some of that to their water a few times a week. You should have healthier birds, less prone to stress related disease outbreaks or nutritional problems. It won't solve a protein issue though.
One other thing I recommend, is don't put hay in their coop as suggested, maybe straw, but not hay. I'm sure many have no problem with their birds and hay, but my experience is when a bird is cooped and doesn't have access to green grass, they will eat that hay. The long strands of hay tend to wad up in a ball in their crop and that leads to a crop bound bird that will eventually die because of starvation. I had one young bird that ate hay and it formed a twisted rope in their intestinal tract and he wasn't doing well and had stopped eating. It took lots of liquids and fortunately me examining his vent and seeing something protruding just slightly from him. I birthed a 12 in long hay rope from that poor bird.
One other thing, if you were feeding them scratch and scraps, they should have had poultry grit available to them. It helps break up or grind scratch and scraps in the birds gizzard to the bird gets some nutrition from it and doesn't get "blocked".

 

[Gundawg]

I have a feeder filled with 3/16" grit in the run. I use pine shavings in their hen house I change that out when it gets stinky usually every couple weeks. I move the old shavings to the garden and put in new shavings. I get the shavings in bales from the feed store. They get out 2 to 3 days a week this time of year for a couple hours to forage weather permitting. They don't have access to hay. I really appreciate all the suggestions. I will continue to answer any questions you have I want to get this figured out. I will take some current pictures and post them showing bird condition on the hens.

I have a dust bath in the run I fill it with play sand, diatomaceous earth & ash from the wood stove. I mix that up real good and they use it for dust baths.

Thanks Mike

 

[Gundawg]

I bought some game bird food today and talked to my feed store lady she says her feed is milled the same week she buys it. I checked the dates on the feed I got from the food bank and one says 10/22/16 and the other bag says 2/10/17 so my feed seems to be fresh. I took some pictures to share of the facility and chickens showing some missing feathers.

The far feeder has the 3/16" grit in it.

Girls using 4 of the 6 nest boxes this morning.



A couple of the birds missing feathers.

RIR missing feathers off her butt.

 

[Gundawg]

A few more pictures. These are the pictures of the food bank food I have.



Date of the oldest bag.


Date of the newer bag.

This is the feed I buy at the feed store.

One of the australorp hens that is missing a bunch of feathers next to one of the ones that picks the feathers Bared Rock.

This bunch is in fairly good shape they are missing a few feathers but not bad.

 

[miss maple]

Wow you have a really nice setup! I cant add much more than the others already have, but if you want to give a high protein, calcium rich snack on the cheap, stop in to your local butcher and ask if they have any bone meal. They will usually give it to you for free. I have a friend that's a butcher and he tells me that people line up outside in the mornings for it to give to their chickens. Mine go absolutely bonkers for it, I mix it up with their fruit and veg treats to not dilute the protein content. The extra protein may help them grow their feathers back, plus the calcium and nutrients from the marrow couldn't hurt either. Hope it all goes well for you

 

[MrsBachbach]

A few more pictures. These are the pictures of the food bank food I have.



Date of the oldest bag.


Date of the newer bag.

This is the feed I buy at the feed store.

One of the australorp hens that is missing a bunch of feathers next to one of the ones that picks the feathers Bared Rock.

This bunch is in fairly good shape they are missing a few feathers but not bad.

The missing head feathers could be from the rooster mounting them. The back doesn't look like rooster damage though. The bare vent area could be from lice or feather mites. If you are sure you don't have a feather mite problem (they eat feathers and are harder to get rid of than lice, dusting doesn't work) and are sure it is other hens eating those feathers, I would suggest identifying the feather eating hens and putting "pinless peepers" on them. Not hard to put one on, (dip them in hot water to soften first) and can usually be done by hand if you have someone to hold the hen. They do make a tool to help you put the on. The hens will adjust and still find the feed and water, but their close vision is impaired and it usually keeps them from zeroing in on a target, like a specific feather or bug, etc. Keep that on the offending hens for a month or two, or until the other hens grow feathers back, and that should break the offending feather eating habit of those birds. Because it very well could be a habit now instead of just a protein issue. So, up the protein, install the peepers (search pinless peepers on internet to find) and if the disappearing feathers get worse, spread or don't grow back in two months, you need to consider feather mites and bring the big guns out to take care of those. Ivermectin.

 

[Gundawg]

If it was lice or feather mites wouldn't they all have it? Out of 16 hens only about 5 seem to be affected. I have watched the birds pick feathers and eat them the Bared Rock in the picture with the Australorp picked a feather off the chest of the Australorp about 10 seconds after I took that picture and ate it.

I just ordered some of the pinless peepers off ebay the US seller with the pliers. I probably don't need the pliers because I have snap ring pliers already but they were cheap enough.

 

[MrsBachbach]

If it was lice or feather mites wouldn't they all have it? Out of 16 hens only about 5 seem to be affected. I have watched the birds pick feathers and eat them the Bared Rock in the picture with the Australorp picked a feather off the chest of the Australorp about 10 seconds after I took that picture and ate it.

I just ordered some of the pinless peepers off ebay the US seller with the pliers. I probably don't need the pliers because I have snap ring pliers already but they were cheap enough.

No, not when it comes to feather mites. They can spread, but they live in the quill of the feather. Can't see them either. With lice, you can usually see the eggs on a feather base, but feather mites are different. Mites generally don't live on birds, but I think feather mites are an exception. You generally see bare areas on the quills of the wing and tail area, but they can affect other areas of the bird too.
Like I said, just assume feather picking and start with those remedies. Those missing feathers should start growing back soon and in about two months the birds should be feathered again and hopefully the habit broke on the feather eaters. If they are still missing feathers, you either haven't found all the offenders, or you have another problem.
DE and wood ash is good for the lice, just make sure all the birds are dusting, or dust them yourself. I'd sprinkle some DE in the nest boxes and on the roosts too.

 

[aart]

Quote: Feathers wont' grown back until bird molts......unless feathers were fully plucked out.
If you see bugs on birds, best to use something more than DE or wood ash....I like permethrin.

 

[MrsBachbach]

Feathers wont' grown back until bird molts......unless feathers were fully plucked out.
If you see bugs on birds, best to use something more than DE or wood ash....I like permethrin.

Umm..OP's chickens have lot's of bare skin! Of course if the quill of a wing or tail feather is still there it won't regrow. And I've seen thinning of feathers on my hens on their backs, whether from rooster or mites or lice, Idk, but after I treated them and removed the rooster, they did regrow their feathers and it wasn't because they molted! So, I question your post unless you were talking wing or tail feathers.
If it's parasites, OP's birds will continue to have feathers disappear and conditions will not improve. Either way, he should see something one way or another in a couple of months. Regrowth in bare areas, but continuing spread of feather loss, especially if offending birds have stopped, means parasites. Regrowth, but spreading of feather loss has stopped, means it likely was just rooster and feather eating hen damage.
But one thing OP can look for is feather loss on wing or tail quills. Feather loss starts at base and goes up feather shaft. That's a sure sign of feather mite.