Hen with red skin loosing weight and feathers.

[Kevin_87]

I have two year old Barred Rock. Recently she has been loosing weight and feathers. Where the feathers have fallen out the skin is red and seems painful. She is grouchy, starting fights, and looks sickly. I have wormed her. Tried various otc sprays and new stock ointment. No improvement in yet. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Kevin

 

[DiYMama540]

Looks like possibly a case of mites or lice to me. You can treat with some permethrin poultry dust, or even a permethrin dip bath. If you go with the dust, make sure you sort of rub it in to the skin, concentrating under the wings and vent.

What do you think @sourland @aart @Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock ?

 

[Kevin_87]

I tried poultry dust and bath, no improvement. She lives with nine other birds. They do not have any of these symptoms.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have two year old Barred Rock. Recently she has been loosing weight and feathers. Where the feathers have fallen out the skin is red and seems painful. She is grouchy, starting fights, and looks sickly. I have wormed her. Tried various otc sprays and new stock ointment. No improvement in yet. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

How much weight has she lost - have you been weighing her?
What does the rest of her look like - photo
Is she still laying eggs?

Are you finding feathers around the run - she may be molting as well.
What do you feed? I would start with giving her a direct dose of poultry vitamins for a few days. See if she will eat/drink for you - extra protein like fish, eggs or meat would be good.
I do see quite a few broken feathers as well. Is she excessively dust bathing or picking at herself? Do the others pick on her?

 

[Kevin_87]

I have weighed her, just an estimate based in handling her and direct comparison to her sister. She eats Purina layer pellets supplimented with fresh fruit, meal worm, and sun flower. Recently she has been getting a lot of salmon scraps from our dinner. It is cooked. We have had a hot windy summer so no feathers found. All get rooster booster in the water twice week. I do not believe she is laying now. No one picks on her, she picks on everyone else. Her activity level has not been affected . I will take picture of her tomorrow .

 

[Shezadandy]

I have weighed her, just an estimate based in handling her and direct comparison to her sister. She eats Purina layer pellets supplimented with fresh fruit, meal worm, and sun flower. Recently she has been getting a lot of salmon scraps from our dinner. It is cooked. We have had a hot windy summer so no feathers found. All get rooster booster in the water twice week. I do not believe she is laying now. No one picks on her, she picks on everyone else. Her activity level has not been affected . I will take picture of her tomorrow .

Looks like molting to me, and it's pretty much spot-on for timing - 2 years old- often they skip their first fall/winter molt and don't do it til they're 2. The red skin could just be exposure to the sun. Go have a peek tonight and see if the skin is back to its regular pink now that it's nighttime. If there are creepy crawlies, night time with a flashlight is a good time to see them - under the wings, top of the tail, especially near and around the vent. It takes a lot out of them when they molt.

https://the-chicken-chick.com/molting-what-is-it-and-how-to-help/

And, just in case:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/

 

[aart]

I don't think it's bugs or molting.
Have seen that red skin before, it seemed to come and go at longer and shorter durations on different birds. Never really found a cause and thus no treatment.

 

[Kevin_87]

I never did figure out what it was. She started getting very aggressive towards the others and people. Then she started making terrible noises. It seemed she was in pain or distress. She was put down one week after the original post. It has not spread to any of the other birds. Thanks for all your input.

 

[Bird-Whisperer]

You said she had been getting salmon scraps, i wonder if it’s possible she had some allergy? Sorry to hear you had to put her down