5 HENS IN FLOCK 2 LOOSING FEATHERS AND SEEM TO LOST WEIGHT

[rypie13]

OUR EGG PRODUCTION HAS BEEN DOWN TO ABOUT 1 TO 2 EGGS A DAY OVER THE LAST FEW WEEKS. THE FLOCK IS JUST 1 YR OLD. MY WIFE NOTICED THAT 1 WHO WE THOUGHT HAD GONE BROODY LOOKED VERY SICKLY THIN IN THE NECK AND BODY AREA AND ONLY A FEW TAIL FEATHERS LEFT. THEN WE NOTICED ANOTHER LOOKING SIMILAR. IS THIS MITES OR LICE?
PLEASE HELP.

 

[johnmayersquare]

Molting perhaps???

 

[chickeepoo]

If one of you can hold each hen and the other check carefully down in the feathers and shafts really well, and around the vent and wings, you should be able to see evidence if it's lice or mites. It took me a little while to see what it was I was looking for with feather lice- TINY light brown long things running for cover while others attached up and down the feather shaft, sucking the life out of the hen I was checking. Also, check this site to help you ID them:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html
Also, list of Poultry diseases:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/PS044#

There are apparently a lot of things that can cause the weight loss, etc., so hopefully someone else can jump in here. I've been treating a hen who had weight loss, lethargy, and, it turns out, hundreds of lice until I dusted her with Sevin dust 5%. She may have other illness as well as she isn't bouncing back the way I'd hoped. I hope you can get yours treated ASAP; give as much info as you can on your thread and it'll help others guide you with suggestions