Okay. I have had raw, red bottoms on some of my chickens for a while now. Currently, on two of my seven. At times in the past, the number's been up to four.
I have looked on the chickens themselves after educating myself on what to look for regarding mice/lice on past posts...no critters.
And tonight my husband (Holmes) & I checked for signs of red mites in coops. Absolutely nothing. Nothing stirring on the walls, wiped underneath perches with cloth to see if I could see blood (clean), looked underneath perch tongue/groove part (clean).
My thoughts are now migrating (after smoking my pipe and putting on a velvet lounging coat) to protein issues causing feather chewing/eating. My worst hen (a SLW) has recently showed up with chewed-on looking tail feathers. I noticed tonight, while looking for the mites, that she is forgoing the perches for a nest box in tandem with another chicken behind her. Aha!
I also recently found out that Holmes, in charge of distributing food, was neglecting the oyster shell portion thinking the feeder was for grit; we fixed that. Another thing, my feed & seed gave him different feed several weeks ago. I checked and it's soybean-based, not animal protein which I read makes a difference in egg production. My egg production is way down. Need to change the feed.
Are my deductions taking me on the right track, wiser-than-me chicken whisperers? Thanks for any feedback you can give.
I have looked on the chickens themselves after educating myself on what to look for regarding mice/lice on past posts...no critters.
And tonight my husband (Holmes) & I checked for signs of red mites in coops. Absolutely nothing. Nothing stirring on the walls, wiped underneath perches with cloth to see if I could see blood (clean), looked underneath perch tongue/groove part (clean).
My thoughts are now migrating (after smoking my pipe and putting on a velvet lounging coat) to protein issues causing feather chewing/eating. My worst hen (a SLW) has recently showed up with chewed-on looking tail feathers. I noticed tonight, while looking for the mites, that she is forgoing the perches for a nest box in tandem with another chicken behind her. Aha!
I also recently found out that Holmes, in charge of distributing food, was neglecting the oyster shell portion thinking the feeder was for grit; we fixed that. Another thing, my feed & seed gave him different feed several weeks ago. I checked and it's soybean-based, not animal protein which I read makes a difference in egg production. My egg production is way down. Need to change the feed.
Are my deductions taking me on the right track, wiser-than-me chicken whisperers? Thanks for any feedback you can give.
