One chicken appears to be molting!

[jlovepj1027]

I received this maran from the same maran I received the other a week later after getting all my other three pullets. I would like to ad she is the only chicken with this problem. She eats and drinks throughout the day. And plucks out her own feathers.

comb is good and legs are good. She eats and drinks fine but picks her feathers off so much she has a bear bottom!

I gave her an Epsom salt & olive oil bath and was able to see more clearly that she is just in fact loosing feathers! No mites or lice and feces is good and healthy. But why is this happening? I live in California and although some mornings get chilli by 11am it's 75 degrees out here! She is the only hen having odd symptoms! Is it molting? Stress? Or is something else going on? I use dietamacious earth and haven't seen anything alarming. Coop and run are well maintained as well. Very concerned. I cross posted this in emergencies & health but haven't received any comments or suggestions.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Chickens start molting from the head back, so it's not molting. What's the brown discoloration, I would still suspect lice or mites, what have you treated her with, I would give her a good all over dusting with a good poultry dust. Something certainly doesn't look right though.

 

[jlovepj1027]

Thank you!!! Yes it doesn't! I did the poultry dust. And when I did the bath it was all clean. No mites or live anywhere. She is the only one pecking herself and the other peck her in that spot as well.

 

[jlovepj1027]

Would it hurt to try an antibiotic? I have the dietamacious earth generously everywhere!

 

[jlovepj1027]

I also thought at first that they were mites or lice but as I cleaned her in the bathtub it was just dirt.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I don't use DE, it freaks me out, so I can't comment on that, I have read some on vent gleen, I might try to treat for that, I can't recall what they spray on them for it, it's I think a fungal infection, you could do a quick search on this site, she's probably picking because it itches. Wish I could be more definite on how you should proceed, hopefully someone else can give more advice to get it figured out.

 

[21hens-incharge]

vent gleet and oh my what a pain it can be to deal with.

2 of my older hens are struggling with it now as well. I am posting so I can follow to see what solutions there are for it.

I have done what is recommended with the segregation and dark molasses to clear the system followed by yogurt or probiotic to boost the gut back up with limited success. I have bathed them in epsom salt water to clean them up first of course and again after a few days then as needed. I will be dealing with the bathing again this weekend.

I am thinking this may be an ongoing issue for the two in my flock. I hope there are some responses with solutions.

As to the DE it is more of a preventative then a cure. I personally have stopped using it entirely. I found the benefits did not outweigh the drawbacks of using it in my flock.

 

[jlovepj1027]

vent gleet and oh my what a pain it can be to deal with.

2 of my older hens are struggling with it now as well. I am posting so I can follow to see what solutions there are for it.

I have done what is recommended with the segregation and dark molasses to clear the system followed by yogurt or probiotic to boost the gut back up with limited success. I have bathed them in epsom salt water to clean them up first of course and again after a few days then as needed. I will be dealing with the bathing again this weekend.

I am thinking this may be an ongoing issue for the two in my flock. I hope there are some responses with solutions.

As to the DE it is more of a preventative then a cure. I personally have stopped using it entirely. I found the benefits did not outweigh the drawbacks of using it in my flock.

What do you recommend to "treat". And do I treat as precaution or when I see something? I think with how I handled her and giving the bath I would have seen something for sure but nothing. So I guess the DE has sufficed as far as preventative measures go. I went ahead and am treating the entire flock "just in case" with antibiotics to see how it goes and she appears to make this high pitch squeak and has some run coming out of her vent. I will more than likely contact a vet if I don't see an improvement in the next day.

 

[jlovepj1027]

Ok so I did do the antibiotics and I believe that along with the bath did a TREMENDOUS improvement! I am giving her yogurt now and following the steps from this site. Hoping to see more of an improvement!
http://www.fresheggsdaily.com/2013/09/vent-gleet-symptoms-causes-and-natural.html?m=1

 

[21hens-incharge]

The problem is I don't have a solution either. I wish I did since it is 2 of my favorite hens that seem to have it. We will be bathing and doing the molasses system clear tomorrow then on with the probiotics. I got some capsules this time that I will sprinkle on the wet feed for them.

Mine are older hens at 6 years so this may not be something that I can clear up for them. My older hens are doing great then one will get down a bit and pass quickly. I saddens me that I cannot get these 2 cleared up and their last days may be miserable.

Thanks for the link by the way. That is the molasses method I used before and did not see much if any improvement.

It reminded me to do the probiotic on the feed every day.

It does say NOT to use antibiotics though. I will continue to use the braggs and not do antibiotics for them.