Mites, Lice or ???

[Leslie M]

These are pix of the underbelly of one of my 16 month old hens. She is acting normally, eating and drinking well, laying regularly. Besides the red, chapped skin between her thighs and body, she is losing feathers. She has lost quite a few up the center of her stomach and part way up her chest. She also has some feather loss on one side of her neck. I can see no bites or bugs of any kind. She has been like this for a few weeks now. Whatever it is, it doesn't seem to be getting better or worse. Any thoughts as to what this could be and treatments would be greatly appreciated.

BTW~ none of my 3 other girls have any of this.

 

[Eggcessive]

Her skin does look irritated like something is biting her, or more commonly she is being feather picked by a chicken. I have a couple who let others pick their neck feathers or beards out. Extra protein and plenty of room helps. She is getting close to molting age also. 18 months give or take a few is the time for the first big molt, so keep that in mind. They stop laying during a molt. Here is a site on lice and mites for pictures: http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

 

[Leslie M]

Feather picking did cross my mind, but I couldn't figure out how one of the others could even get to these areas to pick the feathers. The only way we can even see the areas is to pick her up and hold her legs away from her body.

I did have another hen who was feather picking the beard feathers off of another. I thought it strange that the one would just stand there and allow her to do it. I ended up re-homing her a few weeks ago.

Do they molt in summer? I thought they wouldn't do that until fall.

 

[Eggcessive]

They can molt anytime, but most do it at around the 18 month old point (give or take a month or two.) I had a sebright who molted in the dead of winter this year, and she wasn't even a year old. The summer heat can cause a molt, and so can any kind of stress--even running out of water. Since your girls are 16 months you will probably see some early molting.

 

[Leslie M]

That's good to know. This is my 1st flock so, I haven't experienced any molting yet. Knowing it can happen at any time, at least now I won't be upset if I go out to the coop and it looks like they've had a pillow fight