help me help my frizzles

i found a man selling frizzles, they were in sad looking shape. the roos looked good, but thee poor hens are hideous . they are nearly bald. they have been debeaked....i hate that....but i couldnt jst leave them so, i got 12 frizz hens and 4 cochin roos for $15. can anyone tell me if theres anything more i can do for them besides feeding and a little tlc. when i got them home and got them set up they ate like they hadn't eaten in a week. so if any of you know of anything that can help me get them in good shape. and help get thier feathers back, please let me know....thank you

Maybe add some polyvisol-- liquid infant vitamins-- to their water. It smells pretty awful but it helped one of my chicks through a really tough time. Maybe it would give yours a little boost, too!

I would treat them for parasites and worm them first off. Keep them in a separate area for 30 days to make sure they are ok and won't pass anything on to your birds. You might want to keep the hens in a different area too so the roos won't over mate them so they have a chance to regrow some of their feathers. Good Luck with them.

As I'm assuming that these are full grown hens and roos, try giving them some cornbread with olive oil on it. Speckledhen had some sick hens and fed this to them and they perked back up! She noticed a HUGE difference even in the color of their combs and wattles. I'll be crossing my fingers for your new chickens.

There may be causes other than poor care by owner, too.
We had a Frizzle roo & hen before. Both were part Polish & Cochin & the hen was part Silkie, too.
When the rooster got excited about breeding, he got her quite raw & featherless (She was around some other roosters, too, but I'm not sure they bred her much). We ended up selling him & putting her with just hens while she grew back feathers. We later matched her up with a little roo friend who was more gentle. Still, she looked positively skeletal at times since the fluff on the shafts of her feathers seemed to rub away easily and she looked quite barren when molting.
She was well fed, healthy & happy, & quite a matriarch in the pecking order. However, her feather type contributed to her looking otherwise far too much.
Also, I am NOT an expert on this, but here are some things I've heard about Frizzles, as best as I understand:
If a Frizzle chick inherits the dominant frizzle gene from both parents instead of just one, they can look like what is among chickeners sometimes called a "fizzle"--with few feathers & general weak health. That is why it is safest to breed a Frizzle to a non-Frizzle for chicks.

thank you for all of your help. I will check for parasites and worm them, and i may add a little vitamin to thier water to help them pick up. They guy that i bought them from had rescued them, and said he just didn't really want to fool with them. he had boght them the previous month and they were completly bald when he got them. I've also noticed that the roos that were sent with them do tend to be very rough with them so I am sure that adds to the feather loss. I will definitly be rehoming 3 roos soon. they are cochin and they do seem kinda mean. one though seems to be more docile so we may keep just him. the man that had them did the best he could with them, but they needed just a little more tlc, and a permanent home. they were so happy when i got them in thier pen, and as of a few minutes ago they are all settled down for the night. i really appreciate all your help. I'm still a bit of a newbie and need all the help i can get

i have a ? about the breeding. will a cocin roo be the best or a diffrent kind of bantam...i have another little bantam roo thats a japanese black tailed buff, and hes a very docile and gentle young fella, do yall think he would work to breed the hens with. those cochin roos do seem a bit salty.

what all are you feeding?

protein will help with the feathering..
you can up the protein by giving cooked eggs.
some offer canned cat food, dry kitten food..
or:
you can make a mixture of plain yogurt, layer feed, a little water cooked oatmeal, cooked egg yolk..
not soupy, just puffy...at the morning feed.
or:
I'll assume you are feeding them layer feed..
you can mix some chick or grower feed (unmedicated)
with the layer feed.
and:

McMurray Hatchery has some products that might help..one is Avia-Charge 2000.

or you can get some Poly-vi-sol baby liquid vitamins (no iron) at any pharmacy..or some grocery stores.
3 drops on beak once a day for a week, then taper off.

can you separate the roos to "bachelor quarters"?
they are all probably stressed from the new situation..
protein and vitamins can help with that also..

In regards to the breeding question. You could use any breed male youd like, but only if you dont want to breed them as pure breds. If you want to breed them as pure Cochins then a Cochin is your best bet. I would seperate the males from the females for the time being as well, the hens might be in such bad shaoe due to over breeding from the males. If you will give them time away from then females and let the feathers grow back that might help as well?


~Casey

If they are practically bald and it's really sunny where you are, make sure to provide them with plenty of shade. They will burn easily in the sun, we had that problem with a rescue girl