Bare Bum in Winter

[micstrachan]

She appears “molty” to me, but I agree her abdomen looks a bit swollen and irritated. Looking forward to your report when you examine her!

 

[lbgreenfield]

Ok everyone, here is the update on my bare-bummed Barred Rock:

1. Crop - Crop felt squishy (and her whole chest area was squishy) compared to my other chickens. Other chickens' crops were slightly hard, but slightly squishy. I don't think many of them have been eating as much now in the winter time.

2. Eating - She did eat some mealworms and solider flies, did not eat scrambled eggs or canned tuna (in water). She was eating grass when I let them free range for a bit.

3. Bum/Belly Area - Felt like my other chickens' bums and bellies, squishy, warm, no hard lumps, no apparent pain when I was poking around, no hot spots or cold spots. Her bum/bare areas are not as red as they were yesterday.

4. Feather Loss - She's losing feathers on her sides (under her wings) and all on her belly now, in addition to her bum area. I got a few photos of the feather loss areas.

5. Behavior - She did NOT want to be held at all and was scared of me. I know that holding/touching a molting hen is sometimes painful with the new feathers growing, so I tried to get as many pictures as I could without having to hold her as much (see attached photos). She was scratching and eating grass when I let them free range for a bit, but wasn't moving around as much as she usually does.

6. Poop - I was able to get 2 fresh poop pictures, see attached. Both were slightly runny, but nothing like diarrhea.

I feel like this is a really bad molt, but am not sure now with the squishy crop.

Thoughts and remedies?

 

[micstrachan]

I think it’s just a hard molt. Crop could squishy from not eating as much as normal, but make sure it empties overnight. Hopefully that’s all, but I could be wrong, so keep an eye on her!

 

[lbgreenfield]

I plan on checking her crop in the morning. I hope it is a hard molt, I feel so bad she's naked during the chilly weather!

Does anyone else have any suggestions or remedies?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Crop - Crop felt squishy (and her whole chest area was squishy) compared to my other chickens. Other chickens' crops were slightly hard, but slightly squishy. I don't think many of them have been eating as much now in the winter time.

Feather Loss - She's losing feathers on her sides (under her wings) and all on her belly now, in addition to her bum area. I got a few photos of the feather loss areas.

Behavior - She did NOT want to be held at all and was scared of me. I know that holding/touching a molting hen is sometimes painful with the new feathers growing, so I tried to get as many pictures as I could without having to hold her as much

I feel like this is a really bad molt, but am not sure now with the squishy crop.

Yes, the poor dear is molting.
The crop being a bit squishy when you checked her during the day may be just fine depending on what she had been eating.

To get an accurate gauge on crop function - feel of it first thing in the morning before she eats/drinks - it should be flat/empty.

Mine act very cautious when molting too, so that would be normal.

I try to encourage them to eat their normal food for the biggest part of the day. A wet mash is sometimes of interest so you can try that. If one molter is particularly droopy, then I direct dose them with Poultry Cell for a couple of days at 1cc per 3 pounds of weight, but for the most part I just watch them closely and check the crop daily.

 

[micstrachan]

Oh! I forgot to mention... I had two this year who took molt VERY hard (one nearly starved herself to death). Since they weren't eating well, I’d sneak into the coop at night with a headlamp and offer warm baby bird feed mash. They LOVED it, and it helped keep their GI systems moving so their crops didn’t back up.

 

[Kathy Golla]

Oh! I forgot to mention... I had two this year who took molt VERY hard (one nearly starved herself to death). Since they weren't eating well, I’d sneak into the coop at night with a headlamp and offer warm baby bird feed mash. They LOVED it, and it helped keep their GI systems moving so their crops didn’t back up.

Oddly I had almost the same experience! Hard to define. I offered my hard molter everything under the sun, but really resonated with her was wet (very moist) chicken feed crumbles, oddly. I’ve had the best success with taking her out of the pen morning and before roost and feeding her privately out of sight of the other hens.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Wyorp Rock and Dawg53 - thanks for your insight.

Some follow-up:

1. All the chickens have stopped laying going into the winter time. My flock is 2-years old and I haven't had an egg from anyone in about 2 weeks.
...

Thanks for your help!

I'd like to add that you can lose the layer feed since you currently have no layers in your flock. You can resume the layer feed when laying resumes some time after winter solstice.
If this bird didn't molt earlier in the autumn, it is likely a hard molt but that wouldn't preclude other problems.

 

[Oolala]

Hi everyone! I have a 2 year old Barred Rock that is the top hen in my small flock that has lost almost all of her bum feathers (see attached photos). I thought she was molting because she's been losing a lot of fluffy feathers, but her butt and belly are the only places she's lost feathers (head and neck are totally fine and fully feathered). A few things to note:

1. Eating and drinking, although not as much as she usually does (she's usually a food hog!)
2. Feed is Southern States All Grain Layer and Breeder Pellet mixed with Purina Layena Pellets. I'm currently using up the last of the Southern States bag, so I'm mixing it with the Purina feed.
3. I've been providing nightly mealworm/soldier fly larvae/canned tuna in water/scrambled eggs/oatmeal (one of those nightly, not all) to help boost protein intake to help with what I thought was molting.
4. Poop has been runny lately (brown, smelly) and I had to cut frozen poop feathers around her vent tonight. Poop has no worms/parasites/chunks in it that I could see. Poop tonight almost looked a little soapy as in it had bubbles and had the typical "rainbow" sheen that you see in regular soap bubbles.
5. I've checked for parasites/lice/mites, no sign of any of those. I dust the coop bedding with DE every other day and keep my coop very clean (clean up poop collection board morning before work and evening before I go to bed, rake bedding daily, use Sweet PDZ Horse Stall refresher on poop collection board and in corners of coop daily).
6. Coop has been left open into their fenced run, but I don't think any of them have left the coop for the past week after a recent scare with a hawk (good thing we fenced in EVERYTHING in our coop, hawk was unable to get into our pen). Before I left for work, the bare bottom chicken was shaking/shivering, but was alert.
7. Comb/Wattles are normal. She has a normally floppy comb and it hasn't changed.

After I trimmed her poop vent feathers tonight (12 Dec 2019), I took her inside the house and sprayed her bum with Vetricyn spray and put some Vaseline on the bare spots, since they looked dry. It's cold(ish) here in Western PA so I'm concerned about her bare bottom and the cold weather! It's currently 25degF outside and 40degF in the coop (we have 3 radiant panel heaters).

Is this molting? Or something more serious? She doesn't really seem to have too many new feathers growing on her bum, so I'm not sure what is going on. Any help, recommendations, or references would be appreciated!

I have a Sussex who has had a bare bum for months now, a couple of weeks ago the coop looked like a snow storm of white feathers, mainly downy stuff and a few off her back, she is eating well, her poop is normal and she is not being pecked at by the others. I had a Sussex before with exactly the same problem and her feathers came back eventually. However, she does have bumblefoot which I am desperately trying to cure so whether this is distressing her I dont know.

 

[featherhead007]

Ok, I will check her crop and her belly when I get home from work and report back later tonight!

Thanks for the help everyone, we have no avian/chicken vets that I know of in the Pittsburgh area, so I'm hoping she feels better soon.

So do I !