flock looking rough

[Jrose]

They are in a 4' by 8' coop. We use a deep bedding method with pine shavings. The floor under the bedding is linoleum tile. We completely cleaned it out in the last two weeks. And it gets raked daily. They have a hanging feeder, but dry food gets on the floor. I'm sure that is why the mice are coming in. If I try to feed them outside they compete almost immediately with wild turkeys and a couple deer. They know the food is there and they stay near by. The other night I was tearing up some old bread for the hens, and I lifted my head, and a full grown doe was standing within five feet of me.
Most of the missing feathers are at the center of the back, and the base of the tail. They have missing areas on the backs of their legs, and neck/head area that seem to be from mating. He certainly has his favorites! Worry over the hens picking on each other is why I have been supplementing with cottaqe cheese, and other protein sources. I will hold off on that for now to see if this hen comes out of her funk.
Time will tell.
We are going to worm them.

That's an odd situation with the wildlife... Perhaps it would be best to build a pen for them, even just a small one. A 100' roll of 4' welded fabric runs around $70. It will keep critters at bay and allow the hens to scratch their feed in peace. A small price for a happy flock, more room to roam, and potentially solving a rodent problem.

I use welded wire fabric for fencing and it safely contains chickens 6 weeks and older. You can also invest in a large dog run and cover the top with chicken wire for a safe 24/7 outdoor access area. Connect the coop to it or place the coop inside of it. I have this set up, it works wonderfully.

My coop is 12' long, acting as the East wall of a chainlink dog kennel that's setup 20x12 (originally 12x14, but replacing one wall with the coop allowed for a bigger run). The coop opens up straight into the run and has a Southern door, making it accessible from outside the run. When the girls wake up they can go straight outside and still be safe until I come let them out to free range. Even then they have an immediate fenced area (50x50) that I can open up to the rest of the property if I want. I also have a dog who keeps track of and protects my chickens from intruders, and generally keeps wildlife out of the yard. Most of my wildlife is predatory.

Can you throw scratch into dense foliage where the deer can't compete? And do the deer really interfere that much? I know my chickens have snuck over to my neighbor's horse corral and the horses chill while the chickens peck alfalfa around them. Perhaps planting thorny shrubs that are impenetrable to larger animals? My chickens enjoy holly bushes, conifer trees and bushes, quince bushes, and bramble berry patches.

As far as pecking... I have noticed pecking orders getting more fierce in certain conditions:
Too cramped of living quarters, not enough room to spread out
Too cramped on perches at night
Too cramped during feeding time
Too little feed AND too little space (makes hens very agressive with eating)
Hot weather seems to create general short-tempered birds for me
Boredom, no room to roam, nothing to scratch or peck

Like dogs, chickens can get destructive when they're bored or under stimulated.

I can only imagine the chaos and extreme pecking that would happen if I fed my lot in the coop! But everyone's flock is different; different personalities, different breeds, different habits. I throw a quart or two of scratch out morning and evening, spreading it around so everyone can scratch comfortably with their own space bubble. I have little to no bully issues even between adult hens and month-old chicks.

 

[Jrose]

I worried about her being egg bound. She has a nice soft texture when I palpate her. She doesn't appear to be in pain. I have never seen a chicken enjoy being rubbed so much.

She is up walking around this morning. But wont take any treats from us. We will see how she does.

I thought my first internal layer was eggbound. I treated her with all the tricks for eggbound hens to no avail. I realized it was internal laying after she died and the yolk came out. Soft, squishy, bulging abdomens are typical for internal laying. My healthy hens' bum are not squishy. Hens can still lay eggs even when internally laying; occasionally dropping eggs in between successful laying. That was happening to my second internal layer. It escalated over a few months before she died. Internal laying doesn't kill, it's the inevitable infection that kills. There's no cure, it's a genetic defect from what I understand. I've also read and been told over and over that being eggbound is extremely rare, but it IS a possibility.

Edit: My internal layers expressed zero discomfort with massaging the abdomen, and similar to what you're saying, they almost seemed comforted by it.

 

[cortner1195]

Did your internal layers lay normally for a year, and then have problems?

I guess I didn't say earlier that my hens have a 8x20 ft run attached to the coop. That is where the mice have holes to come and go by. I dont want to put the feeder out there. It is uncovered and it would be a free for all. They have access to the run 24 hours per day. Then they get to free range every evening. They have plenty of roost space with 3 8 ft long roosts. Only 2 in use, and no crowding. The pecking order is well established and there doesn't seem to be any bickering.

Tonight she is still bright eyed and alert. No apparent distress. Still soft. She is not eating much so her crop is mostly empty. Much harder to find today. She walked out of my hands and headed to the water. She stayed there drinking a bit here and there while I gave treats, and gathered eggs. She is still wanting to sit in the corner on the floor. I feel better that she is drinking water in a normal fashion. We will see what happens over the next few days.

 

[Jrose]

Did your internal layers lay normally for a year, and then have problems?

I guess I didn't say earlier that my hens have a 8x20 ft run attached to the coop. That is where the mice have holes to come and go by. I dont want to put the feeder out there. It is uncovered and it would be a free for all. They have access to the run 24 hours per day. Then they get to free range every evening. They have plenty of roost space with 3 8 ft long roosts. Only 2 in use, and no crowding. The pecking order is well established and there doesn't seem to be any bickering.

Tonight she is still bright eyed and alert. No apparent distress. Still soft. She is not eating much so her crop is mostly empty. Much harder to find today. She walked out of my hands and headed to the water. She stayed there drinking a bit here and there while I gave treats, and gathered eggs. She is still wanting to sit in the corner on the floor. I feel better that she is drinking water in a normal fashion. We will see what happens over the next few days.

One was an adopted hen, allegedly under 1 year old. She was laying, but infrequently. I had her for only a few months before she died. I had absolutely no inkling there was anything wrong with her until 24 hours before she died. The other was an adopted/kind of rescued factory bird I got last fall. She laid for the first month, went into molt before winter and never started laying properly again. I have no idea how old she was, probably not more than 1 year. She would randomly squat and drop really yolky poos sometimes, and when she did lay the eggs were kind of deformed, or really lumpy or gritty. I'm no expert on it, but those were my two experiences.

Maybe create a 3D playground for the hens? Make a series of perches they have to fly from one to the next and have the feed up off the ground on a pole or something, that way the mice can't get to it but the feed remains accessible?