bald bum chicken with red skin

[unclejohn]

So i have a two or three bald chickens and one in particular has a very red butt.

now i have 24 chickens, 10 of which were mostly all bald this summer when i got them and more than half of those have now grown feathers in the fall.

the rest were day old chicks i got this spring. they are all very healhty happy birds and fully fluffed up. the guy i got the chickens from said the older hens picked their feathers out during the winter.

so now im worried that my new chicks will do the same this winter, how can i prevent this? and what could my older hens have that makes their arses all red??

 

[btruegs]

these are common areas for lice. Go to your local feed store and pick up some lice treatment, i bough mine in a spray form.

 

[unclejohn]

but if it was lice, wouldnt the other chickens catch it too?

 

[Eggcessive]

Feather picking is common with chickens who are kept inside and not put out to free range at daylight to dusk. Boredom, too low of protein in the diet, and overcrowding are the most common reasons. 16% protein in a layer feed or even 20% all flock feed are the minimum, and cut out treats and scratch or corn for awhile if they are getting that. When chickens lose a lot of feathers with picking, it may be until the next big molt that they regrow them. Bad tasting ointments such as Nustock, Bag Balm, pine tar (very messy, but works,) or commercial anti-pick lotions may help.

 

[btruegs]

but if it was lice, wouldnt the other chickens catch it too?

not nessecarily. Only one of my birds has it.

 

[btruegs]

I agree with eggcessive.