Help! What's wrong with my hen!?

[melissa826]

I have something going on in my coop right now...I thought at first it was mites, chickens pecking what I assumed were "bugs" off of each other....and on some, the feathers on their back, right above the tail were looking like they were thinning....I also noticed on a couple that their area around the vent and backside (kind of where there thigh is) were looking red and "beefy" and were missing the feathers. I started treating for mites...but then noticed a couple that had diarrhea....and then I started to worry about vent gleet. No one appears to be quite as bad as some of the images I found online...I did give them some yogurt yesterday.

I have some Red Sexlinks, Rhode Island Reds (who all appeared to be in perfect order) and a few Black Giants....

This morning I went into the coop and a RI Red was still roosting, with her head totally down and she was not really moving. I thought she was dead...I went over and touched her and she was alive but was totally listless.

I carried her out of the coop and set her on a log and she didnt move from the way I set her down.

What could be causing it?? Her feathers are all intact and she appears perfectly fine aside from this.

Can I help her in any way?

I'll try to post some pics of the others with the bad feathers...I'm just sort of devastated over here thinking my whole flock is going down the tubes.... It's about to snow a great deal here, and weve had a lot of rain and not much dry periods...which is why I originally thought mites....

Any help much appreciated!!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The hen has a different issue than the feather loss.

What are you feeding them - everything including protein % of the feed, amount of scratch grains/treats?

 

[melissa826]

They are mostly eating layer pellets at this point.....and since it's been very cold (except the last 3 days when it's been in the high 40s-50s) we have mixed in a small amount about a pound or two per 50 lb bag of feed) of scratch corn to help them add a little fat during the winter months. I try to bring them treats a couple to few times per week....sunflower seeds (not cooked), cooked oatmeal, fruit, etc. Yesterday they had a little yogurt (vanilla because I live 40 minutes from the grocery store and was unable to get out and that is the only flavor my country store had)...two yoplait cups worth between 24 birds.

With it being cold and wet, there isn't a whole lot for them to forage.

I force fed her some water with a small amount of corrid in it. (I remember having a chick who's head was doing the same thing and I gave her corrid and she ended up being fine. The bird has moved from the log I perched her on and is neck down in the leaves she is "lying down" on.

What could it be? I'm assuming it's too late for her...but what do I do to make sure i dont come in tomorrow to 23 birds doing the same thing!

 

[melissa826]

These are pictures of the listless hens vent area.

 

[melissa826]

These are some though not very good images of my other hens that seem fine aside from their backside....

 

[ThePRfan]

Could fleas do this?Curious because my dogs have fleas and I was afraide of this happening.
They do dust bath often though.

Maybe that is your problem.Are they dustbathing at all?

 

[mymilliefleur]

Could fleas do this?Curious because my dogs have fleas and I was afraide of this happening.
They do dust bath often though.

Maybe that is your problem.Are they dustbathing at all?

X2.