Emergency problem with my chickens(Warning Extremely graphic photos)

[max13077]

Quote:
Has anybody else tried the stuff? Seems like it would work, but who knows. We used a similar stuff on the dogs wee wee cause he wouldn't stop "fussing" with it once.

 

[Frizzledhen]

Words of warning. Blue-Kote stings like crazy on open sores. Be prepared for your birds to go balistic on you. Also be prepared to become bluekoted yourself.

 

[max13077]

I'm........BLUE COAT MAN!

 

[katrinag]

Have you tried so soak the hens bum in the sink and clean the blood off. This way you can really see what it going on.

 

[basicliving]

Judging by the pictures, it does look like it's feather picking/plucking turning to cannibalism - but free ranging seems to cure that pretty quick - at least it did for me.

Do you free range all day - or only a few hours a day? Can you observe them for a few hours to see if you can determine if there is any feather picking/plucking going on?

While dealing with a similar issue with my flock, I ordered some Hot Pick and some Avia Guard 2000. But I started free ranging from first thing in the AM until last thing in the PM and the feather picking/plucking stopped before the Hot Pick got here. I did use Blue Kote - but it seemed to have no effect as far as stopping the behavior goes. Once I got the Avia Guard 2000 I started using it in their water right away. No idea if it helped as the issue seemed pretty much resolved before I got it.

My situation was quite a bit different than yours, but what worked for me was free ranging them all day and adding raked leaves and freshly mowed grass clippings to the chicken run and sprinkling it all with sunflower oil seeds to keep them busy while in the run - as that seemed to be the only place the feather picking/plucking occurred. And even though they are free to go as they please, they still like hanging in the run. I also cut out all snacks excepts the sunflower oil seeds - and once I got the Avia Guard 2000, I started adding that to their water.

You've got more to deal with than I did - you need to identify what's causing this problem before you can even begin to guess how to deal with it. While it does look suspiciously like feather picking/plucking and cannibalism, you need to verify that's what it is. If it is, and there's only one that doing this, you may seriously want to consider culling. Cannibalism is a very disturbing habit and is, by all accounts, difficult to stop once it's started. What ever it is, it looks nasty and I hope you can heal them all up.

Sorry I can't be of more help. I sure hope you get it all figured out. Please keep us posted.

Penny

 

[silkiechicken]

The loss of feathers on the back almost remind me of roos being rough on the girls during maiting. If you have no roos, that can't be the problem. If they have feather mites or lice, perhaps the feathers are getting degreaded and falling apart. Add moult time and they get real ragged.

The bump is the oil gland as stated so that's normal.

But the vents. Maybe the loss of feathers, moult, and seasons change prompted some feather picking and now resulting in canabalism. Another possibility in my mind is... do you have rats and mice that might be geting to them on their roost or at night you might not know about? Rats will often go after chicks under a broody and vents of birds sleeping since it's an easy meal.

 

[dlhunicorn]

"cannabilism" is hard to stop once started and I think adding a good supplement like Avia Charge 2000 is a good idea (often some nutrition deficiency or imbalance is involved and at least this way you can rule that out... giving yogurt is good too and perhaps some scrambled egg through their feed on occasion).
It does seem as though the pecking on the areas (and they will peck at anything red >that is why watermelon is so popular with chickens) is occuring in the evening or early morning when they are in the coop... perhaps watermelon or cantelope in there will give them something else to peck at instead of each other ?

 

[ivan3]

The naked backs are probably a result of your roo at work (a heavy grit emery board to round of spur tips and claws will mediate the damage - this is usually less of an issue as they get older).

a spray bottle filled with a 50/50 of betadine/boiled water (betadine tea) can be used to clean the vent areas before applying anything else. If the bluekote/hotpick don't seem to be cutting down on damage you might consider pine tar (yes, it is difficult to work with, messy and has some toxicity issues, but it is also a mean disinfectant and a horrible tasting substance) warmed and mixed with antibiotic ointment (warming the two together partially liquifies it so it can be slathered on with cotton swabs).

I'd also guess that one hen got it started. I'd also be looking for chewed off tips of still sheathed new feathers coming in (with blood on gnawed tips - rodent sign).

I'd leave them in run and watch to see what was going on (maybe identify a single culprit - seperate/cull). If this continues you'll need to seperate out the injured.

These are just some thoughts (great advice above, as well).

Good luck!

p.s.: If the pine tar was too toxic our tom turkeys would have been dead during their first summer (kept them from taking off one another's snoods - they hated the taste of pine tar).

ed:sp.

 

[max13077]

Well I feel like a fool. I got home from work just now and was sitting in the car watching the chickens. All the sudden one of my SLW’s comes out of the coop, goes right up behind one of the RIR’s, and gives her a sharp peck right in the behind! I watched her for a couple more minutes, she did it a bunch more times!! I isolated her, however will she stop if I let her out after a while? I didn’t see any others doing it.

Just wanted to thank everybody for their time and awesome advice! You’re a great bunch of people!

 

[HennyPennies2007]

Hey Max!

There are two kinds of spurs... those that come in by the door... and those that come in by the window...

P.S. Using blu-kote myself right now on my big roo... hens are pecking his comb... seems to be working. I also like pumpkins and raw peanuts to keep them busy. Peanuts are great cause they gotta get through the hull. I got about 50 chickens and a couple handfuls do the trick... good luck!