Bare chicken butt

[chickengirl778]

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
Buff Orp, ~1 1/2 years, normal weight
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
Her butt has been bare for WAY too long after she has molted the rest of her feathers. She also shakes her head back and forth about every 5-10 seconds.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
~3 months
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
Some shake their heads a little, but not as much as the one girl.
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
No.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
Possibly mites? I don't think it's feather picking because her butt isn't bloody, the feather quills just kind of start coming in and then disappear.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
Eating and drinking normally
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Normal.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
None.
10) Describe the housing/bedding in use
Bedding is straw and sometimes has DE sprinkled in.

 

[azygous]

Have you examined her skin closely for tiny crawly things?

Have you looked inside her ears for something that shouldn't be in there?

Have you monitored her crop to be sure it's emptying completely overnight?

As for the bare butt, if she molted and you saw pin feathers emerging, and now there are none, it would be a strong possibility the others are pecking out the blood rich pin feathers as soon as they emerge. If this is done consistently, eventually, the butt will remain bare until next molt.

if you have regular feather pickers, I recommend pinless peepers to curtail the problem.

 

[chickengirl778]

I've looked under the feathers on her saddle, and there's grey stuff at the base of her feathers. Not sure if that's just dirt buildup or mites, but she only lost the feathers on her butt. I have not checked her crop yet. How would you go about looking in a chicken's ear?

 

[azygous]

It sounds like the "grey stuff" could be nits. Your chickens may have lice. Look for tiny red specks crawling on the skin around the vent.

Chicken ears are tiny holes on the sides of their heads covered by ear flaps of very fine feather fuzz, With your finger push the flap forward toward the beak, and you will then be able to look into the ear hole. Sometimes a hair or fine bit of plant matter will get stuck. You may be able to pull it out with tweezers.