Feathering issues - creepy crawlies or mean girls?

[classicsredone]

This is Sweet & Sour. She is about a year old and was matched my sister's classroom. She doesn't keep chickens, so we ended up with some of the chicks. Sweet & Spur is next to the top of the pecking order.

During the molt, she lost some saddle feathers but looked okay. She does not have smooth feathers but does have fluffy, downy feathers that have gotten longer. I noticed last week that she also has a big bald spot on her chest. Otherwise, she looks healthy, lays huge eggs for a girl her size, and we have observed no bullying. We do not have a rooster, so that is not the issue. I don't think this is might, and there are no obvious injuries. Everyone else is healthy, with no bald patches or any other issues.

http://imgur.com/a/iEYAtdR

Pic #1 - chest with bald spot. The red dots are just red. No injury, swelling, feathers poking through, etc. Not any evidence of regrowth here.

Pic #2 - We clipped wings last summer in July or so. The other girls have mostly grown new feathers. She has not, although this was a straight line.

Pic #3 - Missing saddle feathers.

Pic #4 - Closer picture of the saddle area. These feathers grew and are short and curly. There is also no evidence of feathers growing in.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

How old? About 1 year old?
Did she molt? For some reason it does not look like a pullet/hen that has molted yet to me.
How many chickens do you have and how much space? (sqft. of coop and run)
Photos of your set-up if you would like to share.

The loss on the chest/abdomen - could be from roosting, getting into/out of nesting boxes, she may also have pulled some feathers out herself or possibly a roosting mate has picked at her a little.
Some of the others may be pulling feathers, it's hard to know.
Do you observe anything like that.
It would be good to look through her feathers for any bugs - around the vent, under the wings, neck, etc. If you find any treat with a Permethrin based poultry spray or dust.

Also, what do you feed?

 

[classicsredone]

Buckle up. This will be long. She is about 11 months old. She started to molt with the others late into October. We are in the Sacramento area and it is warm until Halloween. Unfortunately, I was pregnant and had my little guy 8 weeks early, so I was at the hospital during the day and into the night. The kids and my husband were here and cared for them. I am not sure if she did actually molt. She was not bald on her back. Everyone else molted without issues.

We have 7 hens and three pullets. The hen in question is second in the pecking order. They have a cattle panel coop that is securely tarped on top and back, and the bottom three feet is currently covered in thick but clear plastic. It is ventilated at the top/front and it is comfortable enough for the kids to hang out in there. I admit to dragging a chair out there to let the baby nap on my chest while we escape his crazy siblings for a bit. IIRC, they have 12 sqft each on the floor with roosts along the back, one side, and the front. The three at the top of the pecking order like to roost near the door up front if the weather isn't too windy or cold. They have a flat shelf in the back with a couple of nest boxes on top on the right and three handing below. There is a wood step stool that they like to use to get into the top boxes, and perches above the shelf that the pullets like to use. Since we have had a wet winter and it has not let up, they also have a big tub full of clean dirt and sand to bathe in. Bedding is wood chips that have been breaking down for a year or two, and wood pellet bedding. We prefer sand in the summer because we can get it down for them to dig into to cool off. I can get pictures in the morning since the only pics I have access to at the minute are of the build and things have changed.

They have a fenced run that gives them 45 sqft each, and right now it is under our crepe myrtles. We move the coop and run to give them more shade in the summer and drier land in winter. They also have access to most of the backyard for now, but soon we will be putting in our garden and will have the fenced run and a little hoop-style tunnel around the garden.

Food is a flock mix from Modesto Milling since we have three that are not laying yet. It is local and we have never had an issue with their feed. The girls have a flock block and free access to grit and oyster shell. As a treat, they get a scoop of ultra kibble, boss, and mealworms once a day. (One feed scoop total, not one for each. It is just enough to fill up their crops before bed.) They get weeds, clover, purslane from the yard. Also, goodies from the garden that they inevitably manage to steal, and the occasional scraps of meat or produce. I usually have a bushel basket or two of grass and weeds in the summer after gardening, and might throw them a few zucchini (or one if it is big), or maybe some veggie scraps frozen in a block of ice in the summer. It is enough to occupy them for a half hour or so, and it helps to keep them cool and hydrated during our super hot summers. I try to keep treats to a reasonable amount, and try to keep it nutritious.

Ticks are not an issue, but fleas and mosquitoes can be. None of the birds look like they have been pecked. She is bright-eyed and active, and the skin is smooth and appears healthy. There is no blood, no bites or marks, no sign of plucking, and I have not found any of her feathers around. Nobody has noticed anyone picking on her, or anyone else. They were raised with our small dog, but he doesn't bother them and just wants their food and, of course, their poop. They don't him in the nose if he gets too close to a prized treat, and he wanders off crestfallen. We had a camera out there that notified us if there was a kerfuffle, and she was never really involved in any power struggles. I checked her thoroughly and my husband and oldest did, as well. I used my DSLR to take pictures so that I could magnify the image and still no sign of any pests, eggs, or their poop (flea "dust" or "dirt").

We are really at a loss. We won't be breeding her, but she is a good little layer and I am not sure if I am missing anything. Thank you for your time!




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[Wyorp Rock]

We won't be breeding her, but she is a good little layer and I am not sure if I am missing anything. Thank you for your time!

So do you have a rooster or not? You mention you have 7 hens and 3 pullets, but mention not breeding her as well.

I don't know...if you aren't finding any bugs and see no one picking on her, then you'll have to wait and see if that is corrected when she molts as an adult at 16-18months.

 

[classicsredone]

No. The kids are in 4H and we had some cockerels from the same group, but they were little jerks right off the bat and figured out how to climb the coop to escape into our neighbor's yard to eat from their gardens as well. They went to the poultry auction before they could do any damage to the girls.

 

[classicsredone]

I forgot to come back to this. This is our coop when it was just completed. We have added a few things, such as roosts at different levels, their best boxes, etc. At this point we were moving the coop every few days, but we have deep bedding at the moment. In the summer, we prefer sand because we can wet it down to give them another way to cool down, and our feeder and whatever are hung to keep poo out.

 

[classicsredone]

I am so confused. The balding has only gotten worse, but there is still no sign of parasites or feather pulling. It looks like the feathers might be snapping off. We reinstalled cameras that look into the coop and run, and fighting is not an issue. The cameras notify us if there is a kerfluffle or loud noise, and nothing. We birds from two local farms and a hatchery, and none of those birds have this issue. We are only attached to one, the olive-egger known as Duchess Spatchcock. She has the least amount of baldness. The worst now has some exposed skin on her back, with even the downy feathers coming off. I don't pick her up much because she isn't cuddly, but she always has a few feathers at a 90* angle just ready to snap off.

I am wondering if I should look into a skin scraping, or if we should just take the two we are not bonded with to the poultry auction. Those three are our best layers right now, so I am reluctant, but we can't have bald chickens.

 

[Kathy Golla]

Pics?
Are you keeping 10 hens in the hoop coop?
ETA: ok I just read back in the thread.
Do you have a place for the hens to dust bathe?
Are you sure they don’t have lice or mites?
Can you post detailed pics of the balding? Catch the wing areas too. I have a hypothesis but I need pix.

 

[classicsredone]

I thought there were some. Sorry about that. I grabbed my DSLR and saw nothing using a macro lens aside from dust and dirt from bathing. These two had been dustbathing and that is what was on the skin. The redness is no warm or spreading much and has been there. After watching them on camera when we are not in the coop, I do think this is something genetic with the feathering. It appears that their chests are slowly balding, while the back of the smallest is also balding. I see no evidence of fighting or feather pulling and they had plenty of time to mount properly. They are about 13 months old now.

 

[classicsredone]

Pics?
Are you keeping 10 hens in the hoop coop?
ETA: ok I just read back in the thread.
Do you have a place for the hens to dust bathe?
Are you sure they don’t have lice or mites?
Can you post detailed pics of the balding? Catch the wing areas too. I have a hypothesis but I need pix.

I will have my husband post, but I am near certain that they never properly molted. I clipped their wings last year, and only a few feathers had regrown when we went to clip their wings today. I have not been out there as much with a high needs preemie attached toe, so I assumed they were fine as I had been told. I zoomed in on the pics again and only see sand and dirt on them.