one of my flock with feather loss around vent for 6 months and now stopped laying, even seen by a vet. Stumped!

[DorothyBlancheandRose]

I have a 1-ish year old hen who rapidly lost a large area of feathers around her vent about 6 months ago, and now has stopped laying. She still eats and drinks regularly and acts normally, with normal-colored comb and wattles, normal poops, etc, and the other two in my flock are fine/no feather loss or concerns. I even took her to the vet about 4-5 months ago (what can I say, it’s my first flock The vet said he didn’t think it was vent gleet, which was my first thought- though she didn’t have bad discharge, which I guess is a classic sign- and he saw no signs of external parasites (I.e. lice, mites). He did diagnose roundworm at the time, and all the girls were given Rx meds, which took care of that, and I’ve followed up with an OTC dewormer last month. Vet suggested it was possibly bullying/pecking by another hen. I do have one slight bully in the group of three, but the other ladies don’t have this problem, and the bullying girl has never drawn blood or really done more than an occasional peck or two and then stops. Plus the gal with feather loss isn’t a shrinking violet. I’ve never seen anything super concerning bullying-wise.

The bald spot is from her vent down and also across her butt and slightly to the sides (of her butt? not sure my chicken anatomy is correct here). The skin is mostly just chicken-skin color, maybe a little pinker, but no scabs, not bright red/inflamed, no discharge or stuck feathers/mud/gunk…

I did a thorough coop cleaning, took everything out completely, hosed down all the nesting boxes and roost, (all wood free-standing structure), then sprayed high concentrate vinegar, let it dry and then sprinkled DE amd permethrin everywhere before replacing fresh bedding, etc. The coop floor is dirt/deep litter, not cement so I can’t really “clean” the dirt floor, but I removed all the deep litter and replaced with fresh after a layer of DE. I dusted the chickens with permethrin powder, and followed up with a second dusting a week later. I didn't and still don’t see any signs of mites or lice infestation, either in the roost/coop or on the ladies, and particularly I don’t see any mites, lice or eggs on the one with feather loss. (And the vet confirmed he didn’t see any signs of external parasites when I took her in.)

Now she has stopped laying, as well, but again acts normal in every other respect. As it gets colder here in Oregon, I worry about her featherless bald booty in the winter, (we are gong into our first cold snap with the next few nights in the 20s here) and am completely stumped as to what is causing the feather loss, and of course concerned for my other gals. Could this really be bullying? I feel like I’m missing something here. Anyone with any ideas, thoughts, advice, or similar experience, I’m all ears!

 

[Hanathehappyhen]

I have a 1-ish year old hen who rapidly lost a large area of feathers around her vent about 6 months ago, and now has stopped laying. She still eats and drinks regularly and acts normally, with normal-colored comb and wattles, normal poops, etc, and the other two in my flock are fine/no feather loss or concerns. I even took her to the vet about 4-5 months ago (what can I say, it’s my first flock The vet said he didn’t think it was vent gleet, which was my first thought- though she didn’t have bad discharge, which I guess is a classic sign- and he saw no signs of external parasites (I.e. lice, mites). He did diagnose roundworm at the time, and all the girls were given Rx meds, which took care of that, and I’ve followed up with an OTC dewormer last month. Vet suggested it was possibly bullying/pecking by another hen. I do have one slight bully in the group of three, but the other ladies don’t have this problem, and the bullying girl has never drawn blood or really done more than an occasional peck or two and then stops. Plus the gal with feather loss isn’t a shrinking violet. I’ve never seen anything super concerning bullying-wise.

The bald spot is from her vent down and also across her butt and slightly to the sides (of her butt? not sure my chicken anatomy is correct here). The skin is mostly just chicken-skin color, maybe a little pinker, but no scabs, not bright red/inflamed, no discharge or stuck feathers/mud/gunk…

I did a thorough coop cleaning, took everything out completely, hosed down all the nesting boxes and roost, (all wood free-standing structure), then sprayed high concentrate vinegar, let it dry and then sprinkled DE amd permethrin everywhere before replacing fresh bedding, etc. The coop floor is dirt/deep litter, not cement so I can’t really “clean” the dirt floor, but I removed all the deep litter and replaced with fresh after a layer of DE. I dusted the chickens with permethrin powder, and followed up with a second dusting a week later. I didn't and still don’t see any signs of mites or lice infestation, either in the roost/coop or on the ladies, and particularly I don’t see any mites, lice or eggs on the one with feather loss. (And the vet confirmed he didn’t see any signs of external parasites when I took her in.)

Now she has stopped laying, as well, but again acts normal in every other respect. As it gets colder here in Oregon, I worry about her featherless bald booty in the winter, (we are gong into our first cold snap with the next few nights in the 20s here) and am completely stumped as to what is causing the feather loss, and of course concerned for my other gals. Could this really be bullying? I feel like I’m missing something here. Anyone with any ideas, thoughts, advice, or similar experience, I’m all ears!

Can you post some pictures? Are any feathers growing back or is it just bald?