Help! Sick chicken...

[LindsaySinai]

I thought my cochin was molting because she just came out of being broody and now there are feathers EVERYWHERE!! But as the days go on I realize she's only losing them from her vent and now today it just looks so raw(which might be normal) but all the feathers around that area look wet and it might just be my imagination but it seems like every now and then she stumbles a little bit. My other 3 hens are fine and I dusted them with poultry dust a little over a week ago and will do it again in another 2 days. Every time I look in the coop I can find a few mites. So...what might be wrong with my hen and whats a good way to completely get rid of the mights? I already dusted the coop and run with DE and poultry dust. Should I spray it down with bleach or will it soak into the sand(the bottom of the run is sand) and harm them?

 

[leadwolf1]

I'm not totally sure what is wrong with your hen but, if I were to guess, I would give her some added protein and vitamins. They lose alot while they are brooding.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

http://ultimatefowl.atwiki.com/page/Vent Gleet
rule out vent gleet

also there is a depluming mite for feather loss
http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/library/lvstk2/mf2387.pdf
this is an old link and some of the pesticides are now not approved for poultry

http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/pesticides.html
newer link for pesticides

You can spray your coop with bleach instead of permethrin spray but it needs to air out all day as it is very toxic for fumes. I wouldn't bleach the run. (I never treat the run anyway.)

Treat the birds with poultry dust and spray the coop (throwing out all bedding) every week until bugs are gone, to get the hatching eggs.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I'm not totally sure what is wrong with your hen but, if I were to guess, I would give her some added protein and vitamins. They lose alot while they are brooding.

x2

 

[LindsaySinai]

x2

I can't see how its brooding if the only place she's losing feathers is her vent?? Doesn't it start on the neck and head??

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
No we mean (at least I mean) that when they are broody they don't eat much and lose weight...nutritional status goes down the drain. So they can use a boost of nutrition and protein.

 

[leadwolf1]

Exactly

No we mean (at least I mean) that when they are broody they don't eat much and lose weight...nutritional status goes down the drain. So they can use a boost of nutrition and protein.

 

[LindsaySinai]

No we mean (at least I mean) that when they are broody they don't eat much and lose weight...nutritional status goes down the drain. So they can use a boost of nutrition and protein.

Thank you!!! I realized she was so scared of the other ones she didn't get to eat at all because she wouldn't come out of the coop. As soon as I would let the others out to free range(which isn't daily) that she would run out of the coop and frantically eat. The past two days I let them free range for a long time and she got to eat so she finally laid an egg again(she used to be a daily layer) and the egg was so much smaller then usual...poor thing was starving. So, I rehomed her today where she can roam freely and hopefully be able to eat whenever she wants. Sad to see her go.