Is my chicken ill? I don't know enough...

[sally_grassafina]

I am a new chicken owner, and I think one of my Ameracauna's is not quite well. Her chest feathers are thinning (she's pulling them out?), her butt is losing feathers too and her poop spot seems to be sort of ....well, flexing...sorry.
This morning when I opened the coop I found a soft shelled egg broken on the floor below the roost. I don't know if it was hers, but it's worth mentioning.
My birds are a bit skittish, so I'm loath to grab her and look her over if I don't have to - don't want to stress her unnecessarily.
The other four seem fine. Anyone have any thoughts - I hate to be so ignorant about this. Thanks so much.

 

[purpletree23]

If she is loosing feathers and pulling them out she might have lice or mites. You'll have to catch her and look at her vent and at the feather base to see if you can see mites or lice. Lice can sometimes be hard to see. Check her out and post the results for us.

What are you feeding them?
What is their housing like?
Does she have access to ground oyster shell?
Have you wormed them?

We'll start there.

 

[Judy]

What purpletree said. It's easier to check them over if you pick them up off the roost.

Here is a poop website to help you identify the poop:

http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

 

[sally_grassafina]

Thanks for your questions

- They have steady access to Layena pellets, and they eat kitchen stuff - fruits, veges, grains etc.

- They have a 4x4 coop and a 10x4 run

- They have ground oyster shell

- I haven't wormed them - didn't know I could/needed too

Guess I pull her off the roost and check for mites and lice too. She seemed perfectly well a week ago, and there is no aggressive behavior amongst them. I'm relieved to not be hearing alarm bells from any of you - thanks again for your time.