Surely not red mite ?

[eggmandoo]

Hi I've noticed this red marking on one of my chicks. She is 28 weeks and has alwAys has a bare behind. She is the head of the pecking order. I have never seen her feathers getting pecked or have ever found any feathers from her in the coop or pen. I wonder if she is removing her own small feathers before they have grown? Or could it be red mite. I have no obvious signs of red mite and the other hens I have seem ok. This hen has been my best layer but has had a problem for the last 5 days with no shell eggs or no egg at all....any ideas

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi I've noticed this red marking on one of my chicks. She is 28 weeks and has alwAys has a bare behind. She is the head of the pecking order. I have never seen her feathers getting pecked or have ever found any feathers from her in the coop or pen. I wonder if she is removing her own small feathers before they have grown? Or could it be red mite. I have no obvious signs of red mite and the other hens I have seem ok. This hen has been my best layer but has had a problem for the last 5 days with no shell eggs or no egg at all....any ideas

What type of food/treats do you feed?
Do you provide oyster shell free choice?

It does looks like she is being plucked, either she is plucking her own feather or someone else is. Watch to see if it is happening at roosting time. Even is she is head of the pecking order, bums seems to be fair game when on the roost. Since you see no evidence of her feathers lying around, she or one of the others may be eating them

Try increasing their protein intake, either by feeding an All Flock/Flock Raiser formula (18-20% protein) or give extra protein like egg, tuna, mackerel or meat. Offering some poultry vitamins once a week won't hurt either. If you don't already do so, offer oyster shell free choice for added calcium. If you do, then you may want to try giving her some extra calcium to see if this helps with the soft shell eggs.

Red mites come out at night, they live in the coop/bedding/housing so the best way to check for them would be when everyone is roosting (dark) - run your fingers along the roosts (if you find little specks of red/blood - your mashing the mites) and inspect the bums with a flashlight to see if you find any critters.

You can apply some Blu-Kote or Pick-No-More to the red areas to help heal and cover them. For mites/lice treat the coop and chickens with a poultry dust or spray. I'm not sure what brands you have in the UK, but Permethrin based products work well.

Let us know how she's doing.


http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/08/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification.html
http://countrysidenetwork.com/daily...ern-fowl-mites-red-mites-on-chickens-poultry/

Permethrin products:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1151513/pesticides-approved-for-poultry

 

[eggmandoo]

Thanks very much. My first thought was plucking. I'll check tonight re mites. I have applied anti pecking spray and a purple spray (same as blue kote). they have access to oyster shells all the time and I put some on the layers pellets. I'll look at an additional supplement. I feed corn as a daily treat and dried meal worms most days.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thanks very much. My first thought was plucking. I'll check tonight re mites. I have applied anti pecking spray and a purple spray (same as blue kote). they have access to oyster shells all the time and I put some on the layers pellets. I'll look at an additional supplement. I feed corn as a daily treat and dried meal worms most days.

For you girl that's laying the soft shell eggs, watch to see if she is taking any oyster shell. Some hens just don't process/absorb nutrients like they should. If she continues to lay soft shell eggs/shell less eggs, vitamins may help, if you have access to liquid calcium give her a daily dose of that (usually the dose is 1cc, but check your label) you can also give her a human calcium supplement (like Caltrate). 1/2 tablet daily for a week to see if that helps.