Chicken loosing feathers

[flrn]

I have a hen that has lost some feathers around her backside, and vent area. I've checked twice for any mites or fleas and can't seem to find anything that looks wrong. The skin underneath is nice and pink, and I have been very diligent about cleaning their coop and applying DE to their roosting tray and run, along with applying poultry powder to keep anything at bay too. Any ideas?

 

[Chicks Galore3]

She could me a late molter. Or, the others could be pecking on her, or if you have a rooster, he could be damaging her feathers during the mating process.

 

[flrn]

I've had the girls now for almost a year, and I definitely do NOT have a rooster lol. After further examining all of the girls, there are a few more that have the same thing going on. I didn't see any bugs running around on them, of course my eyesight isn't what it used to be, but I'm assuming it's either mites or lice. Since then, I've read some of the posts here on backyard chickens on how to manage the problem, and I've completely cleaned the coop and run (AGAIN), scrubbed it down with soapy dawn detergent and water, sprayed it with liquid Seven, and did a complete dusting of the girls with GardStar poultry dust. I watched this YouTube video for instructions, and it worked perfectly!

. I've also added an ash dusting bath to the run, and haven't seen them use it yet but hope they start doing that soon.

I plan on dusting the girls again in 3 days (Saturday) and will keep an eye out as to how they are doing. I didn't apply the DE yet, because it started to rain, and I will do this on Saturday to the run, coop, and dust the girls. Will keep you up to date on their progress. Did I miss anything????

Thanks everyone for your advise and posts, it sure is a great help to see what others have successfully done for their chickens too.

 

[Chicks Galore3]

No problem. Those bugs don't stand a chance! Also, if that doesn't work, you might have a breed with bad feathers. Hybrids, like gold stars, and sex-lings can have bad feathers. I have 4 of those.

 

[flrn]

I have 4 red rocks, and 2 white leghorns. The white leghorns were supposed to have been white rocks, but they were not :-(.

 

[flrn]

Do you think I should deworm them too? Anything safe to use that you can still eat the eggs?

 

[Chicks Galore3]

I know there are some, but I'm not sure of the names...

 

[flrn]

Update:

I've been dusting the girls fannies every 3rd day, alternating with GardStar, Seven Dust, and DE. The skin is still red looking, but I think it's improving. I started to use PDZ in their roosting tray, and bought a litter scooper and clean it every 3rd day too and added DE to the coop floor. Not sure what to do about the reddened skin though, or if I need to worry. No feathers have really started to grow back, and I've been reading about pecking from some of the girls, but ALL of the girls have some amount of feather loss and skin redness. They also seemed to have loose stools (poop), and looked a bit pasty butt, but since applying all of this stuff that too seems to be clearing up a bit. I've noticed that their is still some poop on the eggs though, which is concerning to me. I've been looking at their droppings, and they seem normal, but will have to really take some time to check each girls droppings this week when I get some extra time to spend with them. I've been also reading about applying blue-kote. Anyone heard of this or if it would be helpful?

 

[Eggcessive]

You only need to dust them every 7 days X 2 with 5%Sevin dust or Gardstar, not both for lice and mites--if you treat the coop, this is all you need. At most 3 treatments should do it. DE can be a little dangerous if they get it in their lungs. Just don't overdo it, because if you couldn't see mites and lice to begin with, they must be feather picking. Try upping their protein to 20% for awhile. Link for pictures of lice/mites:
http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8162.pdf
http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

 

[flrn]

Thank you so much for that information! I really enjoy hearing everyones experiences and learn so very much. After speaking with a friend here locally about my situation, she immediately said "they are stressed, what did you do to stress them out, or something is stressing them out". Well now that brought a whole different perspective to the subject, since I have yet to find a single mite or bug on the girls, either early am or any time of the day. I am checking daily, and their bout of diarrhea has cleared up as well. Now with this in mind, I did do something to the girls which could have stressed them out for a few days. I had to pen the girls on the other side of the property due to some unforeseen situation, and thought I had gradually acquainted them into the new pen, however I think that because leaving them there for 8 hrs at a time, on several days in a row, they were completely confused, laying eggs on the ground etc. I did have their food, water, and made a makeshift nesting box for them, but I think I may have found the root of the problem. Since moving back into their main coop, and several days of readjusting, the diarrhea cleared up and so has the feather loss. I'm still glad I did the deep clean, etc. and will continue to perform daily checks on the girls for any other possible cause.