Bare bottomed hens with red skin?

[web020]

i have 8 chickens in a big coop, about 9x8 and an 8x11 or 12 run. We have had them since last easter and nothing like this has happened, but now a few of them look like this: with bare bottoms and red skin. There are no roosters, and a variety of breeds. Also, i have a brahma, with feathered feet. She has blood on her feathers and some of the feathers on her feet are plucked and there is blood in the holes where they were. We let them free range for an hour or so before sun down, but since we lost one to a hawk and it has been winter, they havent been out in a while. Today i cleaned their coop and put DE on the edges and the perch, as well as the nesting boxes. I also checked for bugs but didnt see anything. Im thinking that maybe they need to be let out more, they have mites, or theyre molting, or maybe just pulling feathers out. How about you guys? Im really worried for them it looks painful, ecspecially the one with the bloody feet. They all seem normal, but im just really worried!

 

[MarcoPollo]

Same here! And it has been nearly 5 months. I have 6 hens in a large coop and a 12' X 20' run. I have given the chickens hanging treat feeders, and vegetables. Yogurt and black oil sunflower seeds were recommended too, so I started giving those out. The chickens also liked having cabbages to peck at. They have always had laying crumbles, oyster shell, and grit. I tripled the forage space that was in the run, and they get occasional time outside in a separate 15' X 40' garden; but it never helped the bare-butt issue. I did have a serious mite infestation and took care of that. But now I see that my hens are pestered by flies.

I've dusted them several times with DE. I tried BluKote on all hens for a week straight, then neosporin as needed. At first I saw my chickens plucking each others feathers but have not seen them do this for a few weeks. Yet no feathers are growing back. The majority of my research has pointed out that my chickens are bored and have learned the feather plucking behavior to the point of habit. It is upsetting and I miss the fuzzy little butts. I am about to separate 1 hen for a minimum of 2 weeks to see if she will grow some feathers back. It is strange that the bare skin is completely bare and reddened, and when checked daily, I never even see a wisp of a feather starting to grow back. Do they honestly pluck their feathers daily? At the first sign of growth? Sorry that I have no advice, but I understand how aggravating this is!
The positive side is that my hens act fine otherwise and have still produced eggs, although some were misshapen and one was soft shelled.

 

[realsis]

not exactly sure of this but ive read when they pluck or eat feathers they are looking for protien... maybe that's what's happening? try increasing protien a bit and see if it helps. if nothing else the increse in protien will help the feathers grow out faster. increase as you would during a molt. perhaps with some cat food as it has animal protiens in it or tuna. what ever source of protein you feel comfortable with. see if that helps. it won't hurt that's for sure. is there a chance they are rubbing the feathers off while roosting or sitting? either way the protein will help. hopefully its not a habbit out of boredom? but do try the increse of protien. i think it will help. good luck to both of you and i hope this helps or solves your problem. best wishes.

 

[MarcoPollo]

Cat food? I have plenty of that! I'll have to try some type of protein. I thought that adding the black oil sunflower seeds was enough, but I do see now that animal protein is most likely what is lacking. My chickens LOVE the occasional cricket that they will get when I turn over a rock that is hiding one. This dang winter will not let up though so there's not much to forage for. Thanks for the advice.

 

[ChickEngineer]

I have the same problem with one of my RR. I do not seeing any of the other three girls picking on her although she is last on the "pecking order". All the other girls are full feathered after the molt. I give them all the stuff the others have listed. They get out twice a day and have a nice shaded run during the day. I feed organic lay pellets, ACV in their water and DE in their dust pan. Have never seen mites or anything else, whatever it is has not effected the other girls.

 

[web020]

Thanks for the help guys! Ill try giving them more forage time and some more protien. im taking my cat to the vet soon, so ill ask the vet what he thinks and i heard that they wont grow back their feathers until their next molt, so maybe thats when yours will begin seeing new feathers

 

[web020]

Since its the same type that this is happening to, as well as one one of a kind bird, i think theyre just molting, i will be setting up a DE bath and ive been letting them out more. I am also building an addition to my coop soon so that some of the run is in the sunlight, seeing that the rest in usually damp because it is under trees. There is also no sign of and bugs whatsoever.

 

[MarcoPollo]

My worst feather-loss hen, Deneb, looks like this. She has been living all alone right next to the main coop now for about 2 1/2 weeks. I wanted to experiment and see if it would help her grow her feathers back without the others having a chance to pluck out her new growth. She has been fine with being separated, but after the 2 1/2 weeks, I only see about 6 feathers starting to grow around her vent. Tiny little wisps of a feather started to grow on her back, but within a day or two they were all gone. I have not seen her plucking them but I can only believe that SHE is plucking her own feathers. She doesn't eat the cat food (none of the hens did). I offered her scrambled egg - no interest whatsoever from her. So I give her yogurt and black oil sunflower seeds, which she LOVES, about every day or every other day. She eats oyster shell plus her crumbles. She has no other problems and lays about 3-4 eggs a week. I'm gonna continue her sequestration and see how she is in about 2 more weeks. I hope she grows some feathers cause she looks awful

.

 

[marcyjean]

i am having the same problem even rooster is missing feathers round dimple at tail. going to try increasing protein. bought chicken aprons cause thought that would help the hens against the roosters attention but now i think its a protein defiency cause the rooster is loosing feathers there too. very long and tough yooper winter

 

[One Chick Two]

Can also make the problem worse if there are feather pickers in a flock.