Feathers Missing and What Looks To Be Blood!

[NoFlyBackFarm]

Probably feed for feather may help.

 

[rebrascora]

How old is she? Moulting usually takes place in their second autumn. It doesn't really look like moulting to me as there are no obvious pin feathers and her comb /wattles are still bright red by the look of things. Is she still laying eggs?
Her crop is partially bald and looks a bit distended.
Have you checked her crop function?
Sometimes they will peck at their own crop if they have an impaction or yeast infection that makes it irritable. To check crop function you need to feel her crop at night when she goes to roost. Make a mental note of size and consistency of contents, then remove access to food, so that she cannot eat before you check her again in the morning when her crop should be empty and flat. If it is not empty, then that would indicate a slow or impacted crop. The next step would be to smell her breath for any unpleasant odour which would indicate sour crop. Come back to us with a result on that.
I can't see any blood in the photos, so I'm not sure what you are seeing. I don't think a change of feed will make a difference in this case because I don't think she is moulting but more info re age and whether her crop is emptying overnight will give us more to go on.

 

[Eggcessive]

That is a good idea to check her crop function in the morning. Her crop does appear somewhat distended.

 

[Derek Kwas]

Ok. Well check her crop tonight/today then try the food removal. It'll be hard as we have other chickens. But she was born as well as the others on March 30, 2017 so that'll make her 1 year, 6 months, 4 weeks, and 2 days old. So this would be her second Autumn. She is also still laying eggs. As far as I can see, shes still eating, drinking, pooping.
We are also now noticing a loss of feathers happening in our White Rock Chicken starting in her neck as well.

**Sorry For Late Response**

 

[Fishkeeper]

If you're seeing it in multiple animals, it's time to check for parasites and closely watch for aggressive behavior from the others.

 

[Derek Kwas]

Its not that bad. It only in one other chicken. Shes only loss some feather in her neck area. My mom believes its just them molting.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Chickens don't molt from just their necks.

 

[Derek Kwas]

Well this one is just starting. We aren't chickens experts and all this is happening for the first time. Is there any antibiotic we could give them from places like Farm and Fleet that could help with parasites or feathers?

**This is what it says on the description of the feed we bought :
"Mite-Fighter technology helps prevent mite infestation"**

 

[rebrascora]

Well this one is just starting. We aren't chickens experts and all this is happening for the first time. Is there any antibiotic we could give them from places like Farm and Fleet that could help with parasites or feathers?

**This is what it says on the description of the feed we bought :
"Mite-Fighter technology helps prevent mite infestation"**

No, there are no antibiotics to treat feather loss or external parasites. You would need a product that contained Permethrin to treat for lice and mites. It comes as a dusting powder or liquid spray.

The Mite-Fighter in the feed will be to prevent mites that infest the feed itself and not the chickens.

If your birds are 18months then it is very likely that they will be moulting and there is such a thing as a neck moult, so they can lose feathers just from certain areas like the neck. You would expect to see pin feathers starting to come in very shortly after they lose their feathers though.

You are not looking to withhold food for any length of time to check the crop function. You just remove it after they go to roost at night so that they cannot eat anything first thing in the morning before you have chance to check her crop to ensure that it has emptied. They can have the feed as soon as you have checked her crop, so depending upon how early you get up, they may not be without food for long at all. Birds fill their crop throughout the day and it should be full when they go to roost at night. That food is slowly processed by the bird throughout the night whilst it is roosting and should be empty by dawn ready for the bird to start filling it again. If you leave the feeder in the coop, the bird may have eaten before you check her crop, so you have no way of knowing if her crop is fully emptying overnight or if she has been eating food before you checked her. The only way to be sure is to remove the feeder, so you know that she can't have had anything to eat before you feel her crop. A crop that does not fully empty overnight is not functioning properly and suggests there is a problem, like an impaction.

 

[Derek Kwas]

Went to check on her and its seems to be that she has little spikes growing out of her crop. Which is leading me to believe that theses are feathers.