Australorps loosing feathers

[remist17]

Well I removed the delawares from the pen. The Buff and mix hens are growing feathers back. The two Austra still are missing feathers. I changed the feed to purina crumbles, add sunflowers to the scratch and give them cat food. Any other reason these guys are not growing feathers back? The good thing is they are all laying at 3 1/2 years.

 

[Eggcessive]

You may have identified your 2 feather pickers (australorps.) This can become a bad habit. Do they have room and things to occupy them? Maybe try the Bag Balm or another bad tasting anti-pick lotion. The pine tar is the strongest smelling. I forgot about Nustock--it's a sulfur based cream with pine oil from farm stores--that might be the one to use since it has a strong scent and it is healing too.

 

[remist17]

The Delawares were picking saw both do it. Spent several hours out there watching and everyone stays to themselfs. If anything the two austrolrps pick on everyone else. So im totally confused. They still look like the photos. I had been putting some anti pick from Tsc. Smelt ok to me. I have bagbalm in the barn for the cows ivan slap on. New replacements come next month.

 

[remist17]

Hello all
My two still have no feathers as shown on the above photos. I am starting to think they have mites or lice? No feathers are growing back at all. The backsides are deep red color. No others have any feather lost. I do not see anyone picking on these two or picking feathers. There are no loose feathers laying around. So Im leaning to the mites or lice.

I looked on this site and found two methods of treating lice.
method one is treat with sevin dust.
method two is treat with Ivermectin Eprinex.

Questions:
Sevin dust is applied to the entire bird and also the coop after cleaning.
-What about liquid sevin? can I use this to wash down the coop?

Ivermectin
- how many drops do I use?
- What is the withdraw period?

Thanks

 

[Eggcessive]

I would use Sevin dust or Garden and Poultry Dust (permethrin) for chickens, and permethrin liquid to spray down coop. I don't care for liquid sevin because it is a suspension that clogs up my sprayer. Clean out old litter from floors and nest boxes, and take far away from chickens. Here are 2 good links with pictures of what to look for:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/08/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification.html
http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8162.pdf

 

[remist17]

Went out last night to powder the hens. I grabbed the worst two and did a inspection. The two australorps have no feathers from the underside of neck to the vent. Their entire breast bone is without feathers. Other feathers have grown and covered this so I never saw it.
I found no bugs of any kind. The butt area is red but all the other skin is a white/yellowish color. No other hens have any signs of feather loss or issues. So I have no idea whats going on. The two with feather loss are the more aggressive hens and go after the others all the time. they do not pick feathers but chase them off scratch. I am going to clean out the barn and spray to be sure. Any other suggestions? They are three and half years old.

Thanks