Okay, so my experienced chicken mother is also stumped.
My chicken run has what seems to be a lot of feathers on the ground. My four girls are just about 8 weeks old. They're on medicated crumbles still. They get some free range time in the yard almost daily and I put in things to keep them entertained (swing, dust bath, perches galore)
I suspected mites, so I put DE in the coop and around the run. None of them have any bald patches. I inspected under wings and looked at vents and everything seems normal.
Three days ago one of them got a toe caught under the run door while it was shutting. She had a small cut so I cleaned it and put some Neosporin on it (no pain relief medicine) and it's looking much better. She's walking normally and seems fine other than she isn't sitting on my lap like she used to. She's the only chick who's feathers seem any different.
Am I over reacting? Do they lose some feathers at this age? Is Colombo stress plucking?
My chicken run has what seems to be a lot of feathers on the ground. My four girls are just about 8 weeks old. They're on medicated crumbles still. They get some free range time in the yard almost daily and I put in things to keep them entertained (swing, dust bath, perches galore)
I suspected mites, so I put DE in the coop and around the run. None of them have any bald patches. I inspected under wings and looked at vents and everything seems normal.
Three days ago one of them got a toe caught under the run door while it was shutting. She had a small cut so I cleaned it and put some Neosporin on it (no pain relief medicine) and it's looking much better. She's walking normally and seems fine other than she isn't sitting on my lap like she used to. She's the only chick who's feathers seem any different.
Am I over reacting? Do they lose some feathers at this age? Is Colombo stress plucking?
