So i bought 5 rode island reds yesterday. They are 5 months old. I've noticed that the feathers on their back are falling off. and there poop is runny. anyone has any answers to these problems please tell me.
The feathers falling off can be from being overmated by roosters, or from mites. If you treat for mites retreat every 7 days at least once. The runny poop can be illness, worms, or them drinking a lot of water in a heat wave (or eating too much fruit).
Since you just got them yesterday, it could be various things causing any of these symptoms. Stress, being roughly transported or handled, bullying among them or any birds they were suddenly mixed with, sudden diet change, over-drinking because they were deprived the day before, etc... I would give raw apple to stop diarrhea but I think you should let it go for a day, unless it's like plain water. Chances are it's shifting something stressful to their systems, something which may have flared up due to stress of being moved having weakened their systems. Diarrhea serves an often life saving purpose, plenty of animals (and humans) die because diarrhea was stopped before it had become a problem, and therefore was prevented from removing a life threatening problem. Sudden change of foods can also irritate their digestive systems. There is every chance they lack the normal intestinal fauna/flora to digest a wide range of foods, if they were fed pellets etc and not free ranged. Someone may have given them treats with kind intent that have upset their guts. Or they could already have been ill before you bought them. Sometimes unscrupulous folks will fast and dehydrate them for a day or more prior to moving so you don't see any symptoms as simple as diarrhea. This is an unpopular opinion for feather loss, but I don't believe in 'overmating' unless you either have a rough, nasty rooster, or bung a hen in with many hen-deprived roosters all of a sudden. Even then a healthy hen will keep her feathers. (Yes, I've done that sometimes, but I don't breed nasty birds so my roosters are respectful to hens, so they weren't in danger of death, except from me, because the only times I do that, it's because they're all for the spit, oven or pot). I believe the feather loss attributed to 'overmating' is actually attributable to genetic and dietary insufficiencies causing weak feathers or loose attachments. It can be both bred and fed out of them. I often run a 50:50 ratio of males to females and never have 'overmating' or even moulting that exposes skin. It crops up in hens bought from places that fed them crumble, pellets etc, and they have weak feathers so you can have ten hens per rooster and they'll all be 'overmated'... Even the ones he's not mating with, lol! A hen's feathers, when really healthy, can tolerate a lot of wear and tear. But intensive layer breeds are notorious for putting almost all intake of protein into their continuous laying rather than renewing flesh or growing strong feathers. It's what they're bred for after all. These hens will be 'overmated' even if they've never mated once in their lives. People then call it continuous moult etc but it's protein insufficiency due to genetic influences coupled with diet. Aaaaaanyway, back to the topic, if you let us know how it's going tomorrow you should get more helpful/relevant answers. All the best.
