Diarrhea and pale eggs

[Citruschick]

My 1yo Rhode Island Red is having explosive watery green diarrhea and hasn't been laying very consistently lately. In fact, she went about a week with no eggs but there was one today. Her eggs are typically red but have been a paler brown. Her comb looks fine and she's acting normal and her usual sassy self but she's missing a lot of feathers (self inflicted or not, I'm not sure) on her back and was aggressively preening her chest this afternoon.

My Easter egger has been panting lately and holding her wings out. I'm thinking she's just hot but one of my Easter eggers laid a pale soft shelled egg, a pale cracked egg and a pale egg in the middle of the run in the last two weeks so it could have been her.

This week all the eggs are paler than they should be and twice now I've gotten a nearly white egg. Because of the color change with all the eggs, it's hard to determine whose it is. When all is normal, I get blue, green, tan, gold and red but the blue and green are almost impossible to tell apart and the others all just seem beige and tan this week.

On top of that, my RIR, EE and Jersey Giant have bald wing joints and bald spots on their backs. I got rid of the rooster a couple of weeks ago because he was a very aggressive and constant mater (and we aren't supposed to have a rooster here) and the hens had finally started growing back their feathers so it's disappointing that they may be plucking each other.

So, what do we think is going on? They are all pretty much acting healthy. Good appetite, etc. Their combs are pretty and bright. No one is coughing or sneezing but the diarrhea and pale soft eggs sounds like IBV though the feather situation seems like stress.

Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?



So my question

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Do you have photos of them, the eggs and their poop?

What's your weather like?

How old are the hens?

Hot weather can affect the consistency of poop, sometimes when drinking a lot of water, the poop will be a lot looser.

As a hen goes through the production year, often pigment can become lighter. Almost all eggs are white until pigment is applied at the final stage of egg laying, so being a lighter color can sometimes be normal.

What do you feed, including treats?

Have you checked your hens over for lice/mites to make sure they aren't plucking at themselves due to parasites?

It can take a while for feathers that are plucked out to regrow. Feathers that have been broken, damaged, that look ragged or those that still have intact feather shafts in the skin won't be replaced until molt.

 

[Citruschick]

I can get some photos of them. We're in San Diego and it's just gotten warm. They are all around 1 yo. I feed them Layena, oyster shells and a treat mix of seeds, cracked corn and mealworms and they free range. They have recently figured out how to get into the garden so they have been eating a lot of cucumbers and zucchini, too. There is diatomaceous earth in their dust bath and I haven't seen signs of mites but I will check more closely. Mostly they had baby feathers regrowing on their backs from where the rooster mounted them but now those spots are looking bald again. Rhoda (RIR) has broken feathers too

 

[Citruschick]

Here are the ones with bald spots

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I can get some photos of them. We're in San Diego and it's just gotten warm. They are all around 1 yo. I feed them Layena, oyster shells and a treat mix of seeds, cracked corn and mealworms and they free range. They have recently figured out how to get into the garden so they have been eating a lot of cucumbers and zucchini, too. There is diatomaceous earth in their dust bath and I haven't seen signs of mites but I will check more closely. Mostly they had baby feathers regrowing on their backs from where the rooster mounted them but now those spots are looking bald again. Rhoda (RIR) has broken feathers too

The feather loss looks mainly from the rooster, but often they won't feather back in nicely until molt due to the breakage and damage.

Since they are getting into the garden and snacking on cucumbers and zucchini, this may be what's causing some of the loose poop (?) More watery eats produce more watery poop.

It's possible the girls are plucking out each other's new pin feathers as they emerge, apparently those are tasty and also a source of protein. If you have saddles, put them back on and let the new feathers come back in underneath or at least the saddles will cover quite a bit and deter some of the plucking. Do check under the saddles for any skin irritation and ensure they are fitting well, do this a few times a week. When I used saddles, new feathers came in fine underneath (I had bare backs due to a zesty cockerel).