hens sick, losing feathers

[kerri]

Hi! I am so thankful for your message board. I have 22 chickens; production red, buff orpington, and some plymouth rocks. When I got the plymouths I didn't notice that one had some missing feathers in back. Being new to owning chickens when I noticed it I thought maybe some fighting had been going on. But then my other chickens started to show problems with their feathers. At first they looked "fluffy" and different color, then they started having bare spots. Some look like someone took scissors to them and whacked them off, but some of that is under their bodies so I figured it couldn't be from pecking. I have no idea what is wrong and don't know if the eggs are safe to eat or not. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Kerri

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

It simply is the time of year they go into a complete molt
the eggs are safe to eat and yes they will grow new feathers

here is ssomething you can do to help them get new feathers

(1) what do you feed them?

(2) what do you water them with?

here is a good recipe for wet mash probiotic with vit E and Vit B Complex that will help them get over any E.coli they may have from stress of molting
natural probiotic recipe it is:

for several chickens
1 qt of dry feed crumbles
1-1/2 qt of milk, sweet, sour, or buttermilk or a mixture of all or some
1 cup of yoguart of non flavored yoguart ( no artificial sweetmer)
mix good

SINGLE CHICKEN
3 tbsp of dry crumbles
4 tbsp of milk
1 tbsp of yoguart
1 tbsp of apple sauce put on top of mixture for chickens taste

AFTER PUTTING vitamins in
after vit's are mixed in add the applesauce last for taste to chickens
PUT 1 TSP per chicken OF APPLE SAUCE FOR THE WET MASH PROBIOTIC

NOW THE IMPORTANT INGRIEDIENT FOR EACH CHICKEN FED
and add 1- 1000 mg of Vit E by cutting the end off the vit E capsule for each chicken fed this wet mash
also 1 Vit B complex crushed and
putting it in the wet mash
OR FOR each chicken your treating
so for each chicken use 3 tbsp of mixture and 1-1000 mg of Vit E

twice a day for one wekk
them till the manure is solid and regular colored with white tip

and feed each chicken
3 tbsp full of the wet mash probiotic and what they will clean up in 20-30 minutes
then clean wet feeders and restock dry crumbles

do this twice a day for a week
till the chickens manure is right
then quit the Vit E and Vit B complex make just the wet mash probiotic
then once a week for life


2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar per gallon of the chicken water so their gut flora wil be regulated

they should have this at least 3-5 days a week
then three days aweek after they are over coccidiosis
the vit's are neccessary to clean up the damaged gut problem
email me any questions