hen going bald, please HELP...pics

[mtngrl812]

This hen started to develop these strange feathers in very late winter. I can not see any mites or any other parasite but fully dusted her with DE anyway, along with all the other hens in the coop. No other hens have been affect. She is a 2 yo silver laced Wyandotte that has not been laying (she along with the other 2 yos quit laying for the winter) At first I thought she had decided to molt at a bad time of year, but later notice that if she was molting any feathers they were just as damaged as the current feathers. The feathers are nothing more than shafts with feather hairs at the end. She still has some down-feathers, but not much.





she is not on the bottom of the pecking order and still asserts her authority among the others. She appears to be eating and drink well. They are free range and all get along well and there is no rooster. Anyone have any helpful advice for me. I know she is cold at night because she stays in the nest box and not on the roost. She is a 2-year old silver lace wyandotte.

 

[mtngrl812]

After viewing these pictures I posted and looking at her again last night I notice she is not growing in any new feather and only has about 2 flight feathers on either wing. Could it be something only she ate? Some kind of mite that is only interested in eating on her? She is active and seems pretty much happy, but this can not be a good thing for her...

 

[mtngrl812]

I am guessing everyone is busy with the holiday weekend.... not that no one has any ideas to help me out with this chicken and her feathers

 

[Katiedid]

I am absolutely not an expert, but I always feel bad for people when no one answers, so here's my best guess, I hope for your sake someone with more knowledge comes on. I would treat for lice/mites because that's the only thing other than a molt that I know if which causes feather loss. (It doesn't sound like she's being pecked, since she's not the bottom hen.) One of mine has a bad, bad mite infestation right now and I wish I'd caught it sooner, but I've only seen the tiny things once. I used DE and it didn't help at all. I switched to Sevin, which may or may not be helping, it's too soon to tell. But as I've said, I'm pretty new at this and there's every chance that someone else will have a better suggestion.

 

[sourland]

Looking at her face, comb and wattles it appears that she is facing health issues above and beyond feather loss/quality. Have you wormed your birds lately?

 

[mtngrl812]

No, I haven't ever wormed my birds... I use DE and thought that would always be good enough. What type of wormer would you suggest? I have some pyrantel pamoate paste left over from the horses, would small doses of this be okay for chickens?

 

[seminolewind]

DE helps prevent bugs, but will not treat them. Get some Sevin or poultry dust. Treat for worms. Give her some High protein foods. It looks like something is affecting her nutrition.

 

[dawg53]

DE is useless as a wormer. Give her a "pea size" amount of the pyrantel pamoate. If it is in fact worms and as bad as shape she's in...there's the possiblity too much internal damage has been done and the wormer may or may not help.

 

[mtngrl812]

Thank you All! I shall try the wormer and see what happens. The onset of the feather damage (for lack of a better word) was rather quick, so I thought it was a molt at the wrong time of year due to our unusual weather. She appears to be healthy otherwise, red comb and wattles during the day, eat drinking and running around with all the other gals.

Once I worm her will I see worms in her poo? and should she be kept separate from the others until there are no more worms? I am worried the other girls may eat the worms.

They are feed the Layena layer pellets with the included Omegas, plus once or twice a week a little scratch, many table scraps or leftovers, and all the goodies they find digging through the horse manure and feed the horses have dropped and alfalfa leaves the horses miss. I've even seen them squabbling over a lizard one of them caught.