Bald hens, with an attitude.

Alleychick

Songster
11 Years
Aug 19, 2008
114
1
119
Northern Indiana
Ok I am in need of some serious guidance. I have 10 hens they are sexlinks and isa browns, they are just over a year old. Ok, first problem, i have one hen is who broody, completely bald on the bottom and very mean. She doesnt want to be touched by me or the other girls. Her comb and wattle is pale and i dont think shes laying at all. Second problem, all the rest of the girls are too going bald underneath. It starts about midway down the chest clear under the legs. They too have declined in egg production. They have never molted, so i dont know if this is the problem or if they do have a parasite. The area is not red, but not growing new feathers. Its is as smooth as a babies butt!! What do you guys think???? Any ideas or pictures you have of your own is greatly appreciated!!
 
I would check them for lice and mites. Sounds like mites to me. Check them at night when they are roosting. Use a flashlight to check the base of the feathers. If it is mites dust them with poultry dust, clean the coop really well, make a whitewash with the poultry dust and spray the inside of the coop including the corners and any cracks. Open all the windows and door to let it dry well. Sprinkle more poultry dust on the floor and cracks and then put in new litter. Retreat the chickens in 7 days.

Lice and mites can literally suck the life out of a chicken and kill it. If it is mites or lice get some poultry vitamins to put in their water and up their nutrition with chopped greens, yogurt and maybe some scrambled egg. A couple of pieces of cat food per chicken per day would be helpful too.

Let us know what you find.
 
Tiny yucky dark things. Someone else might be able to explain it better and of course you can google chicken mites but at night when you part the feathers and look at the skin it looks like walking pepper flakes. YUCK! After seeing my first infestation I itched for a week.

Now I have a regular schedule of poultry dust application and worm every 6 months.
 
Last edited:
UPDATE: Thanks for all of your help. I went out last nite and checked for mites. Didnt see anything but i wasnt able to check around there vents, just heads, necks, and under their wings. Im gonna try again tonite. I did see some new growth though.
 
OK, I have been doing alot of reading on this site and various links and I am so confused, not to metion ive got the creepy crawlies. I use this stuff called stall dri, its all i can find, it has de in it. Should i still dust the hen house and the girls with Sevin as a precaution? How regularly should i do this? Pretty sure this post doesnt belong here, but it goes with my first frantic questions above. And to get the girls feathers growing again i should feed them cat food and cooked eggs right???
 
Sevin dust is acceptable.. I use it but others like the poultry dust because it comes from flowers. It is however still toxic and will kill bees just like the Sevin. What you use is more of a personal choice. If you didn't see any buggies that's great. You could probable rule out mites.

You said that you say new feathers coming in. That's great also. To help them 'make' all those new feathers I would make sure they are getting a lot of good food including scrabmled eggs mixed with cottage cheese (tablespoon per bird per day) if you want and 5 or 6 pieces of catfood per day per bird for the extra protein. Some will say that the catfood has too much salt in it so again it's up to you what you want to do.

Stall dri will absorb the liquid from the chicken droppings and again use it if you feel it's necessary. My bedding never gets wet, I have only 5 hens. When the top gets dirty I sprinkle on some food grade DE, flip everything over and add more bedding. I like the deep litter method. DE is more of a preventative for bugs. It will not get rid of an infestation. For that you have to use a pesticide.

I like to be proactive instead of reactive. My girls get vitamins in their water once a week, apple cider vinegar in their water the rest of the week, I dust them with DE every 2 weeks and they get a thorough inspection to make sure there are no problems, they have free access to crushed oyster shell and chicken grit and I worm them every 6 months.

It's all persona preference and what you feel comfortable with. There is wonderful information on this site.

One other thing....because making new feathers takes so much energy egg production might go down or stop. It's normal and they will start up again when they have beutiful new feathers.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom