Balding Butt picked Bloody on TWO HENS? Mites? Help? (PICS ADDED)

[dawny2u2]

This hen

has been losing feathers on her rump, so have a couple others. I have been treating it with blukote, thinking they were picking on each other, the winter months, cooped up, rooster damage, etc. Just recently I have begun to think it may be mites or something, so I changed the litter, dusted with permethien, painted the walls with mix of kerosene and oil, put in a"dirt sandbox" so they could dust. Just really have tried everything I have discovered through research. And they seem to be getting better, except this. Now I noticed with this gal, she is picking herself. Today I saw blood, and when I brought her inside, noticed it looked like a hump or bump that was bleeding. I know its hard to see with all the blukote, but anyone got anymore ideas. I can't believe the others aren't harassing her. I will bring her inside for the night if she starts bleeding again. Just asking...
Oh and when I had her in the house, some of her lower feathers felt like they had burrs or something in them, I cut them out, didn't see any burrs, thats what it made me think of though.

 

[purpletree23]

Lets start with a clean slate (or tush) and give her a bath tonight with a gentle shampoo like baby shampoo. This way you will be able to get a good look at her and see if you come across any lice or mites. Second we can get a better picture of what is going on with her. Right now it is hard to diagnose because of the feathers and blood and bluecote.

Towel dry her well and blow dry on low. Take another picture and post for us.

Keep her separated from the others for now.

 

[dawny2u2]

Thank you for replying, I actually believed things were gettting better, and I was eager to let nature heal. But, today I went out there and she was bleeding again! So I took more pictures with her cleaned off behind. The blood seems to be coming from the top of the vent, which I don't know if its swollen. I also noticed on her skin a yellow type hard sore, I think you can see it in the second pic, just to the right of her feather line on the right. Her skin is quite red, and since I had her, I checked under all her feathers, around the neck, breast, etc, it looks normal there. No sign of bugs. Skin not bright red. There is a patch missing in front of her tail too. This started out in Dec, I believed it was rooster damage aggravated by picking.
Any help greatly appreciated. Now I went outside and found one more bleeding, but this was from her tail feathers, and I found the culprit. It is herself. Her beak is covered with blood, dried and fresh. Don't know if she was getting the other girl, and herself. It is odd, because the bleeding is from two different spots on each hen.
I guess I am wondering, is there some condition or bug (that I cannot see for the life of me, and no evidence of) that could cause these skin and feather picking problems.

They are both isolated, in the bathroom. They aren't happy.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Some of the other chickens must be pecking her? don't you think? as long as she is bleeding they won't leave her alone, unless you can find the one doing the damage and separate her from the flock it will keep happening, if it's more than one doing this too her then I'd say your going to have to get the pecking order rearranged or this will continue. And keep her covered in Blue-kote till she heals. Or remover her which will not be the best solution because it will make her even lower on the pecking order.

 

[dawny2u2]

Thanks Miss Lydia, I must have been updating while you were replying. I don't think it is just pecking. And, oops, I didn't consider her removal in the pecking order problem.
Right now they are both happily gorging on tuna. I have been using the blukote, and its not getting any better. Maybe it is that simple, peking order. That would be good.
But the last maran picking her own tail feathers makes me wonder. And (thank goodness I wrote this a week ago, what a lousy memory I have) I see that I first said the initial hen was picking herself bloody too.
But, I guess there is nothing too abnormal looking about the vent, and that was a concern too. Thanks for taking a look.

 

[dawg53]

I suspect it could be a lack of some kind of vitamin or mineral in their diet. I recommend you increase their protein intake. Feed them gamebird feed for about 2 weeks. It has about 22% protein in it vs the regular feed which has about 16% protein. Buy some poultry nutri drench and add it to their water for about 5 days then stop...it can cause diarrhea. It is rich in vitamins and minerals. Hopefully this will take care of the feather picking. If not, you might have to cull the culprit.

 

[dawny2u2]

I will give that a try, thanks for looking and offering input. Will try any suggestions. It gives me hope to think a diet switch could be the answer.

When I went to the feed store, the man said this is cannibalism. How enlightening. I have been searching for a "disease" or infestation. Its hard to believe, they have so much room, and what I thought was a very good diet. I am racking my brain as to conditions or events to trigger this.

 

[dawny2u2]

Adding a comment in case anyone searches in the future needs follow up. The hens look alot better! Red combs, no more bloody butts, feather loss. This coincides with the weather improving and more time free ranging. I have been feeding them the gamefeed layer feed, about 9 days, and the nutridrench in their water for about 7, haven't seen evidence of diarrhea, but have gone back to water without. I think this may be a solution, the egg eating I have talked about in other posts has seemed to diminish (at least by me going out every 20 minutes and "checking" up on them. ) But they are laying less eggs. So, who knows, all I know is I posted in Dec about feather plucking and eating, and that seemed to be the start of this nightmare. Certainly would pay attention to that in the future, as a warning sign for potential problems. Signing out.....