INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Indyshent]

While it might be due to molting, it's more likely parasites or feather picking. Blu-Kote her bottom and make sure she has plenty of dust to bathe in, just in case. Neither of these options could possibly hurt your birds, so go ahead and do both.

 

[weezerfish]

While it might be due to molting, it's more likely parasites or feather picking. Blu-Kote her bottom and make sure she has plenty of dust to bathe in, just in case. Neither of these options could possibly hurt your birds, so go ahead and do both.

Will do. Thanks! Dust is hard to come by around here lately, but I'll figure something out.

Edits below:
So I already blue-koted two chicken booties (one of our RIRs had a tiny naked spot that I hadn't seen) and arranged a better dust bathing situation. Also gave them some yogurt mixed with a bit of scratch grain while they free ranged. While standing out there with my daughter admiring our little flock, I watched Raptor, one of our EEs, walk up behind Big Mama and took a light peck at her rear end. First time I've observed one of them doing that. No reaction from Big Mama so I'm pretty sure there was no feather pulling going on, but Raptor just elevated herself to my prime suspect.

 

[JanetMarie]

@weezerfish When I've had problems with Northern Fowl mites the rumps don't lose feathers. It could be a depluming mite, but most likely someone is pulling out and eating the feathers. I would spend some time to find out who it is, then you'll have to decide what to do with the guilty one.

In my flock I get rid of hens who pull out feathers of others. Recently I butchered a hen who was pulling out everyone's rump feathers to eat. Now I have a few birds with bare spots on their rumps. She was also jumping on my ducks and trying to mate with them.

Some say that there is a nutritional deficiency that promotes that behavior, but I don't think so, because when I've only had one hen at a time with that problem. It's just something that hen likes to do in my observation.

 

[weezerfish]

@weezerfish When I've had problems with Northern Fowl mites the rumps don't lose feathers. It could be a depluming mite, but most likely someone is pulling out and eating the feathers. I would spend some time to find out who it is, then you'll have to decide what to do with the guilty one.

In my flock I get rid of hens who pull out feathers of others. Recently I butchered a hen who was pulling out everyone's rump feathers to eat. Now I have a few birds with bare spots on their rumps. She was also jumping on my ducks and trying to mate with them.

Some say that there is a nutritional deficiency that promotes that behavior, but I don't think so, because when I've only had one hen at a time with that problem. It's just something that hen likes to do in my observation.

Thanks! While I think I might have identified the culprit in this, I don't want to cull her unless I'm fairly certain I've got the right one. Any tips on getting to "beyond a reasonable doubt"?

My girls' diet does get pretty streamlined during the winter months. I saw in other places that a deficiency could be to blame so I made a bigger effort to diversify a little more. I feed them layena Omega-3 as their base diet and they get a little BOSS daily (while it stays cold) and scratch grains fairly regularly too. Fruits and veggies on occasion as well as available. They have access to oyster shell all the time too.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@weezerfish

I have questions on the bare bottoms.

-Have you observed any "discharge" from the vent? Looking for white/cream color discharge....
-Does the skin appear red and /or irritated around the vent area?
-How many birds are you observing this on?

 

[iamfivewire]

Maybe could try a bag of the Nutrena feather-fixer feed? - is supposed to help for molting & mites.

 

[weezerfish]

@weezerfish

I have questions on the bare bottoms.

-Have you observed any "discharge" from the vent? Looking for white/cream color discharge....
-Does the skin appear red and /or irritated around the vent area?
-How many birds are you observing this on?

Vent looks clean and I haven't noticed any odd looking poo. It does look pretty irritated. I assumed that was due to the cold weather and getting chapped. Had this on one bird back in October/November and it resolved itself around the time it started showing up on the new one. Now there's a second that it seems to have started on too. Sounds like you have a specific issue in mind. What are you thinking? What should I look for?

Maybe could try a bag of the Nutrena feather-fixer feed? - is supposed to help for molting & mites.

I saw this stuff at TSC. Anybody that has used it have a review?

 

[Leahs Mom]

I was wondering about gleet which is a fungal infection. You would usually see some creamy looking discharge on the feathers in that case but not always. Sometimes just red and irritated looking.

Sometimes when there is some irritation visible, the others will take a peck at it since it "stands out".

 

[RockelleP]

ISO leghorn roo to put with my clb ladies to breed super blue eggers / sapphires! (Lost my roo so I'm taking a diff route)

I thought it would be no prob to find a roo. I thought wrong..

I'm located in northeast Indiana. Close to mi and Ohio too

 

[tmarsh83]

Thanks! While I think I might have identified the culprit in this, I don't want to cull her unless I'm fairly certain I've got the right one. Any tips on getting to "beyond a reasonable doubt"?

My girls' diet does get pretty streamlined during the winter months. I saw in other places that a deficiency could be to blame so I made a bigger effort to diversify a little more. I feed them layena Omega-3 as their base diet and they get a little BOSS daily (while it stays cold) and scratch grains fairly regularly too. Fruits and veggies on occasion as well as available. They have access to oyster shell all the time too.

One of my BR ladies looked very similar starting in late September. At first I thought molt, but after a few weeks I started getting concerned. I must have checked her over a dozen times, getting increasingly frustrated not seeing anything, or observing any pecking. I suppose around Christmas, it filled in. She's in great color now, and her rump is fluffy and full. Why it took so long to fill in, I have no clue, but all I can conclude is it was a funky molt.