Broken feathers, stinky...

[mskatt911]

Good morning!
I've had chickens for almost two years now and I've been pretty lucky that I haven't had any problems/diseases with any of my girls. About 6 weeks ago, I picked up 4 more girls from a lady that was downsizing her flock. I was particularly looking for Araucanas and she was the ONLY person in my area that had any.

So, I go to her house at the prearranged time and (her girls free-ranged over 10 acres) and it took nearly 3 hours in 95+ heat to catch them. I was so glad to get out of there, that I didn't inspect the chickens like I should have. I didn't know until I got them all home that this girl had her beak cut (gross) and that she had broken feathers. I quarantined the new girls for 10 days before integrating them with my existing flock...I didn't have any problems with that.

The girl I'm writing about has broken feathers on her back. The lady I got her from said it was from the roos and I believed her. Well, it's 6 weeks later, she doesn't look any better and I don't have any roos. All of my girls free range and go in the coop at night...but she wouldn't, she would roost in the trees. Now that it's getting colder, she wants in the coop at night, too. So last night, she was sitting on the patio table (bad girl!

) so I picked her up to put her in the coop. She STUNK!!! She smelled horrible, like an infection! She's not the friendliest creature and catching her to check her out is a major process. I put her in the coop last night, it was dark so I didn't get a good look at her.

I'm at work now until 6pm tonight, I'll try to get photos if that will help. Any ideas on what's going on? I don't know if she's laying or not because she never lays in the coop like the rest of the girls. I've learned my lesson and will inspect EVERY chicken I get in the future.

 

[sonew123]

Hi welcome!

Quarantine should be 30 days-just in case-to late for that now but for the next time

The broken feathers will not correct themselves until they moult the old ones out-sometimes it takes months-I have one hen that has been going through it for almost 3 months now but her pretty new feathers will be so nice. Dont worry feed her extra protein treats. Give her a bath and eliminate the obvious outside the body stench. Does her nostrils smell-her breath?

 

[mskatt911]

I don't know if her nostrils or breath stink, I will check when I get out of work tonight. The broken feathers I figured would take a while (she's so ugly right now, lol)...but the stink is what got me last night! Really putrid smelling.

 

[sonew123]

Quote:
If your lucky she pooped all over herself and a good bath will take care of that otherwise it sounds like a disease-mmm I cant for the life of me remember the ame of the one Im thinking of but please go to the search button and look up diseases-There's a few major ones that it could be based on foul stenches..

 

[sgtmom52]

Try to give her a warm bath and check her over well to look for scabs or sores that might be infected. If you can take pictures and post them here so maybe someone can give some better advice.

I hope she is just dirty and a bath clears it up.

 

[crawfordmama]

Hello!

I agree - bath time is a good opportunity to check her out. Take a good look at her vent to be sure she doesn't have an infection or any other issues, which could contribute to her stinkiness. Let us know if she has stinky breath. Could be sour crop... I picked up 4 girls from a local farm, and they smelled horribly, but that's because they had poop caked onto their feet.

 

[mskatt911]

Ok, so I managed to get 4 hours off of work so I could check my girl out in the daylight. Took me almost an hour to catch her.

I took her down the basement and gave her a bath...she had a scab by her wing and LOTS more broken feathers than what first
appeared.

The grossest...she has LICE!!! She had probably 5 big ol' tan, ugly lice. I'm horrified. I checked out my other girls and one of my
French Copper Marans had one (probably more), but I couldn't find any on the others.

Now I have to treat everyone and everything. Not happy.

I'm 99% sure the person I bought this chicken from knew she had
lice. I guess I can chalk it up to a lesson learned.