Chicken poisoned, now on the mend I think, but loosing all her feathers??

[casualchicky]

Hi Friends

I'm a newbie to posting/signing up but I've been reading this site for years.

So we have 3 chickens in our backyard. Second time owning chooks (we move a lot so we have to wait till we know we won't be posted for a while-military- to have them and this time it was my husband who wanted them).

Anyway. ..all was going well till the husbo accidently posioned one not last Friday but the Friday before.
Trauma of experience as side which I won't go into here as it involved previous chicken owning traumas and why I wasn't sure I wanted to do it again at this stage....
I pulled myself together and managed to work out what posion and she has been getting a vitamin K tablet twice a day since then.

We still have 10 days to go with giving her the tablet and innitally because she was lethargic and weak it was easy to do. Once she got better she came to really hate tablet time.

My husband was doing morning shift by himself before work and we would do together in arvo.
Anywho....long story short her energy and personality is totally returning and I was feeling confident we had caught it in time and she was getting better.
However yesterday I really noticed she was losing all her feathers!(I'd seen a few but thought it was from catching time experience. But it's like they have all dropped in like one go now!)

My suspicon is that it's been the stress of tablet time...particularly in mornings as husbo doing by himself and I don't think it was a plessential experience for either of them!

My instinct is that it has been the stress of it all, and we have now managed to give her the tablet in some "spiked" tuna (lol) and so the experience is much more pleasant for us all for the remaining course.

So my questions would be:

1. Do we think it's just the stress or something else?

2.say it was the stress the Im thinking of way to counter the last two weeks for her with giving her some good daily experiences both in food/tablet issue and a good rummage through areas of the yard they normally only go to once a week...do it daily for next week or so... is there such a thing as chicken therapy?! Lol. Any thing else I could be doing?

3. What am I now going to have to do about this feather situation? I mean she has lost so many. She is not bald (yet) but like she's only got a few big tail ones left and she has lost a lot of the top covering so it's getting to the the downy stuff.
I am just wondering how long it's going to take her to grow back or what I am going to have to be mindful of now etc? It's only just started Autumn here in Australia so it's not freezing but it can get cold where I am.
I am just wanting to prepare for the next leg of chicken care in advance so I don't have to feel so helpless and worried all over again.

Ok. I hope that all made sense! Thank you all for your thoughts in advance and all the best.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. I'm glad she has recovered. Any major shock or stress can cause a major molt. A time without water, without food, a major illness, a time after raising chicks or long broody spell can all cause them to go into a molt. So, it is probably her illness from the poisoning. There are some good pictures of homemade hen aprons or hen saddles made out polar fleece material online if you do a Google search or look at pinterest. I have taken a 7x9 inch piece, and cut 2 slits for the wings, and then trimmed it to fit after putting it on the chicken. Hopefully, she will start growing back her feathers within a few weeks.

 

[casualchicky]

Hi Eggcessive (lol good one)

Thank you for replying and thank you for the thoughts and welcome. I am so glad it's only a few weeks to start the regrowth. Was a bit worried there for a bit. Though I'm guessing a little longer till she's he glamorous self again.

At what stage do you think a chicken coat would be required? Am attaching a picture here of what she is looking like atm.

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply.

 

[Eggcessive]

She looks pretty good at this point. You may find that she won't need one in the end. I have used them for hens who were over bred on their backs when my rooster was young. Mine molt in the fall, and usually regrow feathers gradually as others come out. I would just watch her. Most of them will be fine on their own and roost together at night keeping warm. There are good threads to read by doing a search at the top of this page on molting.

 

[casualchicky]

Wonderful will do that. Thanks again for taking the time to respond.

 

[rararanch]

There are some good pictures of homemade hen aprons or hen saddles made out polar fleece material online if you do a Google search or look at pinterest. I have taken a 7x9 inch piece, and cut 2 slits for the wings, and then trimmed it to fit after putting it on the chicken. Hopefully, she will start growing back her feathers within a few weeks.

Maybe I could use these aprons on my ex battery hens who constantly pluck feathers out as long as the weather is cool!

 

[Eggcessive]

Here are some links for hen aprons and some pictures of a one piece, no-sew one:
http://www.linnacresfarm.com/2014/04/how-to-make-simple-hen-saddleapron.html
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/424354/free-chicken-apron-saddle-pattern
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/232709505717881978/