hen not acting herself and is missing feathers around vent.

[mrejc]

I have a hen (golden laced wyandotte that is about 2 years old) that has been acting weird for the past month or so. She keeps to herself no matter where she is, is very lethargic and not her normal self. At first I thought she may be broody but I'm not sure anymore. I noticed yesterday that she is missing most of her feathers around her vent (see picture). Her comb and wattles appear to be normal and her eyes look clear as glass. I spoke with the vet and they don't see chickens nor know of anyone who does. I am kind of at a loss as to what to do...

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Welcome to BYC!

At first glance, I'd think she would be molting, as at 2 years, that is standard age; however, hens usually molt fall time. But don't rule that out. If she is eating, drinking, but a big grumpy and prickly looking, then it could be a molt. Give her extra protein to help build feather regrowth.

But first look to make sure there are no small bugs crawling around her vent. That would be a severe feather mite infestation if that is the case.

Also make sure she has no smelly discharge from her vent, as that kind of redness and feather loss could be a sign of vent gleet, a yeast infection of the vent.

But if there are no bugs and no discharge, and overall she is eating and drinking and moving around, just a bit grumpy and jumpy, she may be molting, just at an odd time of year.

My thoughts.

LofMc

 

[mrejc]

She is eating very little. The only thing I really notice her eating are apples, otherwise I don't really notice her eating much of the crumbles or other veggie scraps I put out. I didn't notice any mites but I dusted her just incase. there did appear to be some fluid in the vent but it didn't look like much of anything.