Chicken Check-Up: Help make sure my chickens are healthy!

[Dragonwolfmastr]

Hello there! It's just past the latest heat wave of the summer for us in Seattle, and I decided I'd like to perform a chicken check-up on my 5 hens to make sure they're all doing well and good! I would love y'all fellow chicken keepers to help too by offering suggestions, treatments, and such.
This is the format I'll be using:

#. [Name]
Age: [age]
DOB: [YYYY-MM-DD]
Breed(s): [breed(s)]
Other information: [personality, medical issues, previous possibly health-affecting experiences]
Media: [photos for whole chicken, face/eyes/beak, breast, back, tail/vent, legs/feet]

Here we go then!


1. Afro
Age: approximately 2 years and 11 months
DOB: 2017-09-21
Breed: Silkie Bantam, brown
Other information: Afro is a curious, silly Bantam at the bottom of the pecking order, but since we got chicks, she's been pecking at them to try and work her way up. Her feet are a bit lumpy and crusty; I think she's had minor scaly leg mite for a while. It does not seem to be affecting her daily activities. It is easy for me to pick her up, but she can move really fast when she wants to. Although I'm a bit worried about her safety around coyotes and such. Seemed normal Bantam weight, a few pounds. Sneezes sometimes... I'm a bit worried about her.
Media:

2. Blinky
Age: approximately 2 years and 11 months
DOB: 2017-09-21
Breed: Silkie Bantam, white
Other information: Blinky is a perpetually broody Silkie, she seems pretty full of herself. I usually take the eggs out and she sits back in the nesting box, eggs or no. She also seems to have a minor case of scaly leg mite. Should I be trimming her & Afro's claws? They look a bit long. Seemed normal weight.

3. Rainbow Dash a.k.a. Rainbow
Age: Approximately 2 years, 10 months, and 3 weeks
DOB: 2017-09-28
Breed(s): Colombian Wyandotte
Other information: Rainbow is a curious black-and-white Wyandotte that has a habit of sticking her face all the way into waterers to drink and making her face very dirty. She's frisky and the leader hen since Louise passed away. Seems normal weight. Seems healthy.
Media:

4. Huckleberry
Age: About 5 months old
DOB: 2020-03-13 or so
Breed(s): Blue Plymouth Rock
Other information: Huckleberry is a well-tamed hen. She'll jump up on the porch swing and watch me as I read. She seems very healthy- normal weight, clear eyes, clean feathers. One other thing-- sometimes she preens herself and little teeny flakes come out, but I haven't seen any egg clusters or rough skin around the feather bases, so it could just be dead skin?
EXCITING NEWS!!! Last night we found an egg on top of the crate that the waterer is in, not in the nesting box, it was light brown. Cracked in the middle. Smaller than normal. Could have been Huckleberry or Rocky's first egg!!
Media:

First egg???


5. Rocky
Age: About 5 months old
DOB: 2020-03-13 or so
Breed(s): Blue Laced Red Wyandotte
Other information: Rocky is such a scaredy chicken! VERY frisky. Seems healthy. Makes strange sounds sometimes- starts as a hoarse complaining noise and ends with a short, low-pitched cluck. Kinda like "urrrrrrrrrrORP." We know she's not a rooster. Pecks you a bunch when you try to pick her up, and kicks wildly a LOT when you turn her on her back. Argh.
Media:

Additional notes: All vents look clean. Sometimes Afro's gets dirty. Otherwise healthy looking, normal activity within flock.
I'd love your opinion!

Thanks for reading through this epic article with an annoying amount of pictures.

 

[aart]

One other thing-- sometimes she preens herself and little teeny flakes come out, but I haven't seen any egg clusters or rough skin around the feather bases, so it could just be dead skin?

Could be feather sheathing from new feathers growing in, tho that should be over at 5 months and laying. Look for pin feathers.

Rocky's foot looks a bit swollen, with 'dirt' under the scales?




Have you checked them over real well for mites and/or lice?

Google images of lice/mites and their eggs before the inspection so you'll know what you're looking for.

Part the feathers right down to the skin around vent, head/neck and under wings.

Best done well after dark with a strong flashlight/headlight, easier to 'catch' bird and also to check for the mites that live in structure and only come out at night to feed off roosting birds.

Wipe a white paper towel along the underside of roost to look for red smears(smashed well fed mites).

Good post about mite ID by Lady McCamley:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-chicken-has-mites-now-what.1273674/page-2#post-20483008

 

[Lovem all]

If it's mites you might want to consider a de dust bath in the coop

 

[aart]

If it's mites you might want to consider a de dust bath in the coop

<reads facetious> Let's jump to conclusions and suggest something that won't work if it is mites(which is unlikely).

 

[Dragonwolfmastr]

Could be feather sheathing from new feathers growing in, tho that should be over at 5 months and laying. Look for pin feathers.

Rocky's foot looks a bit swollen, with 'dirt' under the scales?




Have you checked them over real well for mites and/or lice?

Google images of lice/mites and their eggs before the inspection so you'll know what you're looking for.

Part the feathers right down to the skin around vent, head/neck and under wings.

Best done well after dark with a strong flashlight/headlight, easier to 'catch' bird and also to check for the mites that live in structure and only come out at night to feed off roosting birds.

Wipe a white paper towel along the underside of roost to look for red smears(smashed well fed mites).

Good post about mite ID by Lady McCamley:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-chicken-has-mites-now-what.1273674/page-2#post-20483008

I will definitely check for mites. Thanks for the link.
I don't think her foot is swollen, I think it's the angle of the camera, but she does look like she may have some dirt under her scales-- I can give her a good leg soak.
Thank you! I have learned some good things!
And to people after this post too, thank you.