Is She Getting Attacked?

[ryeguy]

We've had our chicks for about two weeks now and they've been doing great. However, over the last couple of days I've noticed one of our Golden Buffs (Red Comets?) isn't looking so great. She's missing a lot of fluff around her neck and it looks matted and picked at.

I've noticed her picking at the area and one of the other chickens as well, but it wasn't "violent" and there isn't any scarring or bleeding. Should I separate her from the others or does she need some sort of medication? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[CMV]

What did that bird get into? It looks to me like she got some kind of smutz on her. She needs to be cleaned off with a bath. Once she is clean and dry you will see that her fluff is likely all/mostly there. The chick fluff is sparse. When it gets gummed up for whatever reason, it looks even thinner. Also, when it starts to look odd the other birds will start picking at it. Clean her up and see what pans out. You may want to double check your waterers to make sure they aren't gummy.

A quick bug check might be in order. And how much space do these youngsters have?

 

[ryeguy]

At first I thought she had just had water splashed on her, but when I picked her up it was dry. We just moved them into a new brooder with some more space and it gets cleaned every day and the water changed twice a day. I thought I was going a bit over board on the cleanliness, but apparently not. She is acting fine, but still doesn't look so great.

How would I go about giving a chick a bath? Just some warm water or should I use some sort of soap? Sorry for all the ridiculous questions, but this is our first chicken go-round.

 

[Chambertin]

I get some warm water, kinda like a baby's bottle warm, and then add any soap thats safe for pets or people and wash away. They dont like it much at first, but settle down then they notice the temp is good. Then break out the hair dryer and make sure its not too hot for my hands.
Usually takes about 10 min a bird if they got into something really stinky, or sticky.

We also had one get attacked and I did the same to get the blood off. She recovered really well even after taking two heaping gulps of water with disenfectant in it. Tough little critters chickens are. Who knows, maybe drinking it helped.

 

[ryeguy]

The bath seems to have done the trick. Used the natural dog wash we have for our Border Collie and the blow drier. She is looking much better now. Thanks!

 

[Chambertin]

Glad it helped you and your chicken. Good luck with everything~