Jujubeans2008
Chirping
Hello.
I noticed tonight when I was putting my chickens away and counting them, that one of my hens felt very scraggly. I don't have a picture because it was dark, but I will post one tomorrow, if needed.
The bare spot is on her back, under her wings. She also has little scabs. We have 9 hens, and 3 roosters. Two of the roosters just matured, to where we could tell that they are roosters (both were late crowers, and their combs haven't been big up until the last week or so, and we saw them trying to mate). Our first rooster, has his favorite hen- which is the hen in question. Within the last week, we noticed some feather loss. Today, we noticed a BIIIIG difference from yesterday, and all of the roosters are chasing it around trying to mate it. None of them seem too interested in the other hens, which are all perfectly fine, feather wise.
I've never seen a chicken molt, so I guess it's possible that she could be molting, but like I said she has scabs and is completely bald. No new feathers look like they are coming in.
We isolated her in a pen with one other hen, so she wouldn't feel lonely. We are hoping that after a few days the roosters will start mating the other chickens as well. Is this wishful thinking? Is it possible we need to get rid of a rooster? It is only this one hen.
Thanks,
Julie
I noticed tonight when I was putting my chickens away and counting them, that one of my hens felt very scraggly. I don't have a picture because it was dark, but I will post one tomorrow, if needed.
The bare spot is on her back, under her wings. She also has little scabs. We have 9 hens, and 3 roosters. Two of the roosters just matured, to where we could tell that they are roosters (both were late crowers, and their combs haven't been big up until the last week or so, and we saw them trying to mate). Our first rooster, has his favorite hen- which is the hen in question. Within the last week, we noticed some feather loss. Today, we noticed a BIIIIG difference from yesterday, and all of the roosters are chasing it around trying to mate it. None of them seem too interested in the other hens, which are all perfectly fine, feather wise.
I've never seen a chicken molt, so I guess it's possible that she could be molting, but like I said she has scabs and is completely bald. No new feathers look like they are coming in.
We isolated her in a pen with one other hen, so she wouldn't feel lonely. We are hoping that after a few days the roosters will start mating the other chickens as well. Is this wishful thinking? Is it possible we need to get rid of a rooster? It is only this one hen.
Thanks,
Julie
We were supposed to only get pullets, but you know how that goes. We purchased 13 chicks, and 3 out of 13 were roos. We gave one roo to our friend, and just realized this week that we have two more.
