This is Carolina. Her bald patch appeared shortly after we got her last September. At first we thought it was stress from the move, then that she was possibly molting (two of our five were). The spot has only gotten larger and redder, however.
We have checked MULTIPLE times for parasites, and the fact that NONE of the other girls are sporting the same symptoms leads us to believe that either she or one of the other girls are removing her feathers for her. In fact, a couple of weeks ago I noticed some feathers coming through the pin feather shafts and thought maybe we were done. But no, they were gone within a couple of days. You can see in the photo (if you zoom in) that there are more of these coming... I have, however, never seen any of them picking at themselves or each other, so this perplexes me as well.
As far as protein goes, she gets 20% layer feed and a meal worm treat about once a week. They free range in a small area (approx 200 square feet) and with all the rain lately are geeing quite a bit of their share of slugs, earthworms and cutworms. I can certainly boost her protein some more, but is this what she needs? Is there a topical solution that I might try on her neck? Bag balm? Or I have a natural balm (ingredients: calendula, apricot, almond, coconut, vitamin E and jojoba oils, beeswax, mango butter, Shea butter, zinc oxide, grapefruit seed extract and lavender and vanilla essential oils. It works wonders on human rashes and bug bites. I wonder if she's itchy and picking at her feathers because of that?
We have checked MULTIPLE times for parasites, and the fact that NONE of the other girls are sporting the same symptoms leads us to believe that either she or one of the other girls are removing her feathers for her. In fact, a couple of weeks ago I noticed some feathers coming through the pin feather shafts and thought maybe we were done. But no, they were gone within a couple of days. You can see in the photo (if you zoom in) that there are more of these coming... I have, however, never seen any of them picking at themselves or each other, so this perplexes me as well.
As far as protein goes, she gets 20% layer feed and a meal worm treat about once a week. They free range in a small area (approx 200 square feet) and with all the rain lately are geeing quite a bit of their share of slugs, earthworms and cutworms. I can certainly boost her protein some more, but is this what she needs? Is there a topical solution that I might try on her neck? Bag balm? Or I have a natural balm (ingredients: calendula, apricot, almond, coconut, vitamin E and jojoba oils, beeswax, mango butter, Shea butter, zinc oxide, grapefruit seed extract and lavender and vanilla essential oils. It works wonders on human rashes and bug bites. I wonder if she's itchy and picking at her feathers because of that?
I just wrote a long response... And the cyberspace ate it
