Confused

[thedistractr]

My hen is about 1 1/2 years old. She stopped laying about 4 months ago or longer. She is acting healthy, her comb and wattles are bright red. Her legs are yellower than the rest. I wonder if its just because she isn't laying? She eats, she is a really good weight. But she has a bright red butt. When she lifted her tail to defecate it was bright red and looked dry. She has some yellow patches of skin on her back. But we also feed her a high cracked corn and mineral diet. It's mixed by a grain elevator for us with boosted calcium. However, I'm not sure it is vent gleet because her vent is nice and pink not beat red. We took her out of the main pen to get a break from the rooster. I see tiny feathers growing back. But not very much. I do notice some of her feathers are dull. I thought maybe lice, but no one else is having this issue. Could it be a skin infection? I am in the process right now of making some fermented feed. Should be ready in a few days to give her more probiotics, protein etc. I think it would be good for her overall health. I am just concerned about the bright red butt. I feel so bad. any ideas?

 

[Sally PB]

But we also feed her a high cracked corn and mineral diet.

Corn is candy for chickens. Not much in the way of nutrition. What else do you feed, including any treats?

Can you get some Starter/Grower feed? Or an All Flock? I suspect she, and your other chickens, might be lacking in nutrition generally, and protein specifically. Making eggs takes a lot of protein, and so does regrowing feathers.

If you switch to either of the feeds I mentioned, be sure to put out some oyster shell for calcium. Either of those feeds can be fed to all your chickens, all the time. The ones who aren't laying will ignore the oyster shell, and the ones who need it will take what they need.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

I would double check for pests. Sometimes one can be heavily infected and others barely have any. The red skin could be anything, but just because her vent is pink doesn't mean she doesn't have vent gleet. She does have a dirty bum. Vent gleet has a yeasty smell to it. However, sometimes hens just have a dirty bum. I usually cut out all treats and only feed them their feed when I see a bum like that. The bright red skin can be anything as well. Sometimes it reflects a bigger issue and sometimes it just happens. I had one lose feathers and have red skin, but it was the roost irritating her. When she got moved to a new coop with a different roost, she cleared up. Once she molted, her feathers came back.

 

[NatJ]

My hen is about 1 1/2 years old. She stopped laying about 4 months ago or longer. She is acting healthy, her comb and wattles are bright red. Her legs are yellower than the rest. I wonder if its just because she isn't laying?

For chickens who naturally have yellow legs, the legs get paler when they lay eggs for a while, and get more yellow again when they take a break from laying. So the leg color is just because she has not been laying.

Since her comb and wattles are bright red, she might be getting ready to lay again. Hens that are not laying usually have smaller, paler combs & wattles.

She has some yellow patches of skin on her back.

Some chickens have naturally yellow skin, so the color is probably not anything to worry about. But it sounds like she is missing some feathers.

But we also feed her a high cracked corn and mineral diet. It's mixed by a grain elevator for us with boosted calcium.

Is this meant to be a complete diet, with the corn and minerals being some of the ingredients? If so, it's probably fine.

Just corn would not be a healthy diet for a chicken, no matter how many minerals were added.

We took her out of the main pen to get a break from the rooster. I see tiny feathers growing back. But not very much. I do notice some of her feathers are dull. I thought maybe lice, but no one else is having this issue. Could it be a skin infection?

Sometimes feathers grow back quickly, but sometimes they do not grow back until the hen molts. Most hens molt once a year, in the fall. They lose & regrow all their feathers at that time, and the new ones tend to be glossier than the old feathers they had before.

I am just concerned about the bright red butt. I feel so bad. any ideas?

I don't have any ideas about what it is, whether to treat it, or how to treat it.

I do suggest looking at some of your other chickens, and comparing the color, to be sure whether that is a normal color for a chicken or not. I've had times when something looked wrong about a chicken, but it turned out to be completely normal and I just hadn't noticed that before. So I've learned that comparing several chickens is an easy way to be more sure whether something is normal or not.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

My silkie gave up laying for 5 months, then started again a few weeks ago. That's normal for silkies but I'm not sure about this breed

 

[thedistractr]

Corn is candy for chickens. Not much in the way of nutrition. What else do you feed, including any treats?

Can you get some Starter/Grower feed? Or an All Flock? I suspect she, and your other chickens, might be lacking in nutrition generally, and protein specifically. Making eggs takes a lot of protein, and so does regrowing feathers.

If you switch to either of the feeds I mentioned, be sure to put out some oyster shell for calcium. Either of those feeds can be fed to all your chickens, all the time. The ones who aren't laying will ignore the oyster shell, and the ones who need it will take what they need

 

[thedistractr]

I give a lot of treats. I had to cut back because I was giving too much. I give a lot of vegetables that they can have. Interesting. Well, we get it from a farmer's elevator. Its layers feed with grit and also we had them formulate it with extra calcium. I think I used the wrong description with the cracked corn. Ill ask them. We also give oyster shell. Ill check their formulation and see if we need to switch.

 

[thedistractr]

My silkie gave up laying for 5 months, then started again a few weeks ago. That's normal for silkies but I'm not sure about this breed

wow neat! That's interesting. She's a barred rock.

 

[NatJ]

Thank you so much. Yes. Sorry cracked corn was probably the wrong term. Its a laying feed that was formulated at a farmers elevator.

That should be fine.

Yellow legs are nothing to worry about.
And I do not think the food could cause the red butt you were asking about, either.

Ill ask them though. Maybe we should switch. Ill see.

If it's formulated as a layer feed, it should be fine.
You could look at the nutrition label, or if you don't have a label you could ask them.

A complete feed should have about 15% to 20% protein.

Plain corn will never have that much protein, so just checking the protein level will tell most of what you need to know about the feed.

 

[thedistractr]

That should be fine.

Yellow legs are nothing to worry about.
And I do not think the food could cause the red butt you were asking about, either.


If it's formulated as a layer feed, it should be fine.
You could look at the nutrition label, or if you don't have a label you could ask them.

A complete feed should have about 15% to 20% protein.

Plain corn will never have that much protein, so just checking the protein level will tell most of what you need to know about the feed.

I called and asked because I wasnt sure. They said It is a 15.5% protein with 2.75% fat. It has ground corn, soy bean meal, fre flo limestone, methionine, Dical phosphate, oyster shell, soy Oil, chlorine chloride, and a poultry premix. Thats good right?