Missing vent feathers?? molting?lice/mites?gleet vent? what is this?

[esme13]

Finally getting ready to introduce new chicks to older hens and saw my hens have something going on. I have 3 hens currently and 2 of them are missing feathers around their vents and had crusty poop near the vent, but not exactly on it. Their are new feathers emerging in those areas of both birds. One of them all has some missing feathers around her neck, not noticeable unless you hold her to look. Both hens with the missing feathers around the vents are not incredibly noticeable. I looked for lice/mites but I see no movement. One of my hens is a buff polish which I'd assume would be easier to see mites? but all seem to show no crawling bugs, unless I'm blind. My girls just turned 1year old in June and are polish if that helps? I have also been seeing lose feathers around the coop. So not sure if molting happens around the vents or not? any advice? will go to the store to get probiotics and see if that helps.Really need to get the chicks into the coop too.

 

[GitaBooks]

You mentioned that some chickens were just introduced. Could they be feather picking each other? Usually molting only occurs in the fall and mites and lice can usually be noticed if their infestation is bad enough to cause feather loss.

New introductions can cause a change in pecking order. This link may useful: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/03/chicken-feather-loss-cannibalism-causes.html

I hope this helps. Best of luck with your flock!

 

[esme13]

The chicks which are 7 weeks and one silkie which is older but small have not been allowed in their coop. I made a fence in box to put inside the coop for them to start adjusting, but I have not put it into their coop yet. The hens go out and the chicks are out at the same time. The hens keep a little distance but hang close by them. The chicks are very healthy and their poop is normal too.

One of my hens did molt already, she lost head feathers and her sister has lost neck feathers which shows a bald spot but has regrowth. Could they just be all molting and feather picking?? would feather picking cause poop to become stuck towards the belly? There skin was very clean once washed, it looked like a fresh chicken from the grocery store with the feathers missing. There is no inflammation or irritation just a bunch of new pin feathers that had fecal matter stuck.

 

[GitaBooks]

Sometimes, chickens just get messy on their back-ends. Maybe they ate a lot of wet food, or maybe it was hot out and they drank a lot of water. It is possible your hens could be molting, as hens will sometimes molt due to sometimes stressful.

Keep an eye out for feather-picking and provide lots of protein so they can regrow their feathers.