Losing Feathers & Yellow Poops. Help!

[BunnyChickenMomma]

Hello, All!

Back again with my poor girl, Thyme. She was treated with antibiotics back in September due to laying shell-less eggs, being lethargic, and laying lash material. I'm happy to say she has since seemed to get over that. But now, we are onto something new. Over the past few months, I've noticed her tail feathers looking scruffy. The day before Thanksgiving, I saw she was missing a few butt feathers. Now, she is missing almost all her butt feathers! She sees to be acting totally normally besides the missing feathers - eating very well, active, and seems happy. Pics attached.

As soon as I saw the missing feathers, I sprayed her with Elector PSP. I think I didn't go aggressive enough on spraying (I'm new to this) because it was after that treatment she lost more feathers. So, I tried a second treatment about a week later and this time also sprayed the other girls (4 total hens, all Buff Orpingtons), the coop, cleaned out nesting boxes, and sprayed down the roosts.

After all that, she isn't looking any better. I bought Vetricyn and have been treating her butt. I'm ordering blue kote because I'm afraid she's going to be pecked (she's at the top of the pecking order) where she is sore. I have a vet appointment set for Monday, Dec. 11. Should I treat with Elector PSP again?

Yesterday, my girl Sage also started pooping yellow poops. They look mostly normal except the urates are yellow (pics attached). Also, there are feathers in the coop each morning, as you can see. Sage is a very healthy weight (one of my more slender girls). I don't generally give many treats - they eat 21% layer feed, forage in our yard, and have a spoonful of plain Greek yogurt most mornings (I started doing this when Thyme was having laying troubles). Because I don't know what's going on, I put Flock Recover 911 in their water today.

I have never dewormed before. Could this be the issue? If so, does anyone have deworming recommendations? Or any other treatment ideas? I feel so terrible that my girls have some kind of parasite and I haven't been able to help them.

Thanks for any advice!

My beautiful girl, Thyme.

Her poor butt.

Sage's concerning yellow poops.

You can see all the feathers, though that is not where Thyme roosts.

 

[Debbie292d]

An occasional yellow poop like Sage's is probably just a cecal poop. If she keeps it up, it could be something more seriously wrong.

For Thyme, the first things I think of when I see her butt is either mites/lice or she's getting picked on.

If it were parasites, the Elector PSP should have taken care of them. You can spray her/them again, as well as the coop, or you could also try some poultry dust/permethrin spray or dust.

Your vet can do a fecal float to determine more what it is. If you can take one of Thyme's poops to the vet in a baggy, that might make it less work for the vet to get one.

 

[Eggcessive]

Yellow urates in the dropping can be a sign of liver problems or ascites (water belly.) Things that can cause those include reproductive infection, egg yolk peritonitis, fatty liver, and cancer. Have you ever seen lice or mites on your chickens? I would not use the Elector PSP unless I saw any. One of the other chickens might be pecking her feathers, or she might be doing it to herself.

 

[BunnyChickenMomma]

Yellow urates in the dropping can be a sign of liver problems or ascites (water belly.) Things that can cause those include reproductive infection, egg yolk peritonitis, fatty liver, and cancer. Have you ever seen lice or mites on your chickens? I would not use the Elector PSP unless I saw any. One of the other chickens might be pecking her feathers, or she might be doing it to herself.

Oh, no. I hope it isn't anything that serious. I will keep an eye on Sage's poop - she has pooped normally but with yellow urates for two days in a row. I didn't clean the coop this morning, but plan to see if my husband saw any yellow poops today. If she keeps pooping yellow, I'll take Sage to the vet as well.

When I originally took Thyme to the vet in September, the vet noticed a "friend" crawling on her and recommended I treat her with something. I bought Poultry Protector (the only thing Blaine's had in my village) and sprayed her down liberally. She seemed to improve somewhat, but her tail feathers still looked scraggly a few weeks later (I didn't realize at the time you needed to do two treatments, so possibly eggs hatched after that). It was only Thanksgiving we started noticing her actually losing feathers. I watch them pretty closely and haven't noticed any feather pecking, at least while I'm around.

I'm just at a loss. We clean the coop twice a day. We feed them only layer feed and the very occasional treat. They have a big coop (converted shed with added ventilation), a covered run, and access to our fenced in yard to forage when we are home. They are only 8 months old, and I feel like I must be missing something or doing something wrong that they are having such issues.

Thank you for your help!

 

[BunnyChickenMomma]

An occasional yellow poop like Sage's is probably just a cecal poop. If she keeps it up, it could be something more seriously wrong.

For Thyme, the first things I think of when I see her butt is either mites/lice or she's getting picked on.

If it were parasites, the Elector PSP should have taken care of them. You can spray her/them again, as well as the coop, or you could also try some poultry dust/permethrin spray or dust.

Your vet can do a fecal float to determine more what it is. If you can take one of Thyme's poops to the vet in a baggy, that might make it less work for the vet to get one.

Sage has had yellow poops at least two days in a row. I'll keep an eye on that and take her to the vet if it continues.

I'd be surprised if Thyme was getting picked on - she is at the top of the pecking order. Can a head hen be picked on? Thank you for the advice. I'll bag up some poops and bring them with me next Monday!

Should I also deworm? Would that hurt them if they don't have worms?

Thank you for your help!

 

[Debbie292d]

Sage has had yellow poops at least two days in a row. I'll keep an eye on that and take her to the vet if it continues.

I'd be surprised if Thyme was getting picked on - she is at the top of the pecking order. Can a head hen be picked on? Thank you for the advice. I'll bag up some poops and bring them with me next Monday!

Should I also deworm? Would that hurt them if they don't have worms?

Thank you for your help!

Just like @Eggcessive advised don't give more PSP unless you know they have mites, I won't deworm my chickens unless I see signs of them having worms, and I never have. It's just we don't want to give our chickens anything unnecessarily and nothing seems to point to worms here.

If it's mites, I do not understand why the PSP didn't work the first time. I have never used it so can't explain it. The only mite we have ever had is scaly leg mites, and we treated them with Ivermectin, so it's possible mine could have had some worms, and that killed them too.

Is Thyme still laying eggs?

Are Thyme and Sage your only two hens or do you have more?

Can you get a really close inspection of her vent, like right up to it? See if you see any white specks on the feathers/feather shafts or anything odd around her vent.

When any chicken seems off for any reason, the first thing I do is a week or more of vitamin water and probiotics. This isn't a cure-all, but strengthens them and their systems to help them fight whatever they have.

 

[BunnyChickenMomma]

Thyme update: she went to the vet yesterday. The vet did a thorough physical examination and said she could not see any mites or lice. Furthermore, she said she couldn't see any red or irritated skin. Thyme doesn't appear to be growing new feathers. The vet said otherwise, Thyme appears to be in excellent health and is a good weight. She did not recommend any testing yet, but wants me to change her food. Right now, I'm buying the Blaine's brand of 21% layer feed. The vet wants me to try Purina or Nutrena. We have a follow-up in a month and if she's still not doing well the vet will do x-rays, fecal float, and blood tests.

We're buying new feed today, but this morning there were dozens of more feathers in the coop. I'm worried that Thyme will freeze to death if she keeps losing feathers. Any advice of when I should bring her inside if she doesn't stop dropping feathers each night?

 

[BunnyChickenMomma]

Just like @Eggcessive advised don't give more PSP unless you know they have mites, I won't deworm my chickens unless I see signs of them having worms, and I never have. It's just we don't want to give our chickens anything unnecessarily and nothing seems to point to worms here.

If it's mites, I do not understand why the PSP didn't work the first time. I have never used it so can't explain it. The only mite we have ever had is scaly leg mites, and we treated them with Ivermectin, so it's possible mine could have had some worms, and that killed them too.

Is Thyme still laying eggs?

Are Thyme and Sage your only two hens or do you have more?

Can you get a really close inspection of her vent, like right up to it? See if you see any white specks on the feathers/feather shafts or anything odd around her vent.

When any chicken seems off for any reason, the first thing I do is a week or more of vitamin water and probiotics. This isn't a cure-all, but strengthens them and their systems to help them fight whatever they have.

Thyme is not laying eggs anymore, but none of my girls currently are - I'm assuming that's because it gets dark around 4:15pm where I am and we're really getting into winter here. In addition to Thyme and Sage, we also have Parsley and Rosemary. Following your advice, I've been doing vitamin water - I'm not sure where we'd get probiotics, but I do give them yogurt each day. Would that help?

On the bright side, Sage has stopped pooping yellow! After 3 or 4 days of it, her poops are now normal again. Yay?

 

[Debbie292d]

Thyme is not laying eggs anymore, but none of my girls currently are - I'm assuming that's because it gets dark around 4:15pm where I am and we're really getting into winter here. In addition to Thyme and Sage, we also have Parsley and Rosemary. Following your advice, I've been doing vitamin water - I'm not sure where we'd get probiotics, but I do give them yogurt each day. Would that help?

On the bright side, Sage has stopped pooping yellow! After 3 or 4 days of it, her poops are now normal again. Yay?

A lot of people's chickens aren't laying now due to the season, less daylight, but they should be in a month or two.

Yes, yogurt is loaded with probiotics. I ferment their feed/grains daily in the winter so they are getting loads of probiotics/prebiotics. There are many products you can add to their water, one I have used is Hydro Hen, but there are many brands.

Thyme update: she went to the vet yesterday. The vet did a thorough physical examination and said she could not see any mites or lice. Furthermore, she said she couldn't see any red or irritated skin. Thyme doesn't appear to be growing new feathers. The vet said otherwise, Thyme appears to be in excellent health and is a good weight. She did not recommend any testing yet, but wants me to change her food. Right now, I'm buying the Blaine's brand of 21% layer feed. The vet wants me to try Purina or Nutrena. We have a follow-up in a month and if she's still not doing well the vet will do x-rays, fecal float, and blood tests.

We're buying new feed today, but this morning there were dozens of more feathers in the coop. I'm worried that Thyme will freeze to death if she keeps losing feathers. Any advice of when I should bring her inside if she doesn't stop dropping feathers each night?

Good news! She thinks she's molting, thus the bald butt? That's backward of how most molt as usually it's head to tail, but not all will molt like that.

How cold does it get where you are? I have one (silkie) molting now so she doesn't come out with the others and stays in the coop as it's cold here (20-35F). We heat our coop to 40F and she seems fine in there at that.

 

[BunnyChickenMomma]

A lot of people's chickens aren't laying now due to the season, less daylight, but they should be in a month or two.

Yes, yogurt is loaded with probiotics. I ferment their feed/grains daily in the winter so they are getting loads of probiotics/prebiotics. There are many products you can add to their water, one I have used is Hydro Hen, but there are many brands.


Good news! She thinks she's molting, thus the bald butt? That's backward of how most molt as usually it's head to tail, but not all will molt like that.

How cold does it get where you are? I have one (silkie) molting now so she doesn't come out with the others and stays in the coop as it's cold here (20-35F). We heat our coop to 40F and she seems fine in there at that.

It usually gets very cold in the winter. We're between 20-40 right now (very unusual to be that warm). The coop has a insulated roof and we have two radiant warmers in there. It is comfortable most nights, but not warm. I'm just worried sick about the amount of feathers she keeps dropping each night. Does that sound like it could be feather picking? I wish it was a molt, but the vet said she didn't see new feathers coming in so she didn't think it was molting.