My Chickens look crappy

[Qi Chicken]

Well, I have been looking at the chickens.

Our welsummer is rumpless! So I guess this confirms the molting thing. She has just the two long feathers sticking up for her tail. Their combs are looking somewhat better. The roo is such a good protector I would hate to lock him up and let the others out. I'm trying to figure out how to separate them, I think the pinless peepers on the three nasty hens is probably the best. Two out of the three nasties are silver laced wyandottes... the other is a barred rock we call ms. nasty. I will try different saddles.

Thank you all for all of your help. I am soaking some catfood in water and letting them have it every few days. I think it is high in sodium and other nasties so I don't want to give them too much. Thanks for your concern AC, I'd like to get a picture of their combs and also of the roos behind. I am concerned about that. Now I just have to figure out how to wash a chicken! Is there anything that gets out blue kote?!?! I suppose the yellowing of the roos feathers will just stay until he molts?

 

[Minniechickmama]

The only safe thing to remove BluKote is time.

You might also want to try Calf Manna for a protein boost. They will LOVE it! I read on here when I started that giving them Manna when they drop off laying can give them a boost to get going again. I swear by it. It beats cat food because it doesn't contain the sodium and other junk chickens don't need. You should be able to get it wherever you get chicken feed.

 

[Mattemma]

I have 2 RSL hens alomst 2 years old and 5 easter eggers almost a year old. I have noticed 1 egger with a bald head,and one egger with feathers missing mostly on the back. I thought it was the RSL hens,so I put them in a dog crate in the garage. It has been a week or 2 now,but I see little improvement.

I have read boredom and a need for more protien are causes of the feather pecking. I have given sunflower seeds,canned fish,and cooked eggs. We have no roosters.

I will try the calfmanna

 

[greenSearcher]

It is easy to make yogurt, I follow the directions for making yogurt found here http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/CHEESE.HTML (I included the index since there are all kinds of yummies besides yogurt) I follow his directions, but use my dehydrator set at 115-120 degrees to hold it while it ferments. Takes me about 4 hours start to finish for a gallon batch of yogurt. Cost is under $6 and I add dry milk to make it thicker.

My girls love the yogurt, and it will keep about 3 weeks before getting that sharp bite.

 

[teach1rusl]

Just finished up bathing one of my girls about 30 minutes ago...lol. Just run your sink (or a plastic dishpan) full of warm, soapy water and give it a bath, just like you would a pup or baby. My girl really seemed to relax and enjoy it. It does help if you have an extra person to gentle hold and pet the bird while you massage the poopy area to work clumps away. I towel dried her, sat her on my lap and used the blow drier on her, and now she's in our guest bathroom drying out the rest of the way. In a few hours she'll go back out with the others.

Even still damp, she looks so much better, and I feel better!

 

[rancher hicks]

Some breeds do not do well in confinement. I have covers on my run and plastic covering the sides so they can go out in the winter on the warmer days.

Chickens don't take stress well and this could be the cause for feather loss. I have to bantam leghorns for sale for this very reason. Stress also affects their immune systems leading to health problems as well.


The other birds just loved to pick on my SLW and GLW's and they were bald even in the summer so I gave the SLW's away. The GLW's are just now starting to look better. Some breeds don't mix well either. The poop on the feathers may be bcause ther is not enough roosting space.

Make sure your coop is well ventilated. This is probably the most neglected area of chicken keeping.

The combs may be the result of picking and this can come from boredom.

I suggest a trip to the public library for some research and see if you can find an area your missing if your really concerned. Lord knows I've missed some things and paid for it.

Hope all gets better

Rancher

 

[melloladies]

Had to give two of my fluffy butted girls a butt cut to keep their nether regions "sanitary"

DH held them - just bums dunked in water for a minute to soften anything stuck to their feathers- I kinda loosened things up with a gloved hand- then give the feathers a trim to keep it from happening again. Voila! Clean mommas!

 

[ikatiemay]

Our winter has been brutal!! We had below zero temps (14 below) and snow snow and more snow. We are supposed to get 1ft again tonight. The girls, 8 of them have 2 roos. One was deliberate the other was supposed to be a pullet. We have some bare backs and one poor sweety has bald spots on her head. I got aprons from Tess and they are WONDERFUL. I need to get her to make little bonnets for us too. I have been giving the girls a cabbage about once a week and they have loved apples. I keep the feed full, give them scratch and boss. I know the roo population is to high, we have some small frys in the rubbermaid growing leaps and bounds to eventually help with that problem. Our girls look ok for a rough winter, now if we could just get the 3 ft on the ground to melt