Pecking out her own feathers

[Flycropper]

I have an Americauna that started having a bald spot on her back/rump area. I thought the other chickens were doing it either when they were roosting or when she was laying. About two months ago, I moved her out of the run to a separate area to let her heal and it hasn't. Yesterday when I was checking on her I saw her turn and peck at the pin feathers growing in. She is doing it to herself. There is no evidence of mites or anything that would be irritating her that I can see.

Any suggestions or thoughts about what's going on and what can be done to cure/fix...

Thanks!

 

[hinkjc]

It is normal for a bird to preen their new quills coming in. This helps the feather open. However, if she's preening to the point of breaking them, then she has something irritating her. I would guess shaft lice. I don't think you would typically see them, since they reside inside broken shafts and continue to eat away at them. I would treat with food grade DE or a poultry dust. You can ask for it at most feed stores or TSC would have it as well.

 

[NurseJay]

I recently picked up a lovely Brahma pullet, about 6 weeks old. She is bald all down her back. I thought that she was hen pecked, but now see that she preened herself to this state. She was constantly pecking herself, and the two Cochins that I bought the same day. She was not plucking the feathers off of the two other birds.I rubbed bag balm on the bald area, since it looked cracked and scaly. She gladly held her wings apart, for this and seemed to enjoy it.

All three birds (from two different venders) had smelly diarrhea, but I attributed that to needing dirt or getting over-heated at the farmers market. I saw no sign of parasites anywhere, but treated all of the new birds with diatomaceous earth (a totally non-toxic treatment for internal and external parasites.) I took the birds outside and poured some of the DE into a pile on the ground and loosely powdered down the birds. All three birds dust bathed in the pile, and ate some. The brahma ate a lot of it. Late the next day, the brahma passed a huge ball of round worms. They looked a lot like earthworms, but she has not had opportunity to eat earthworms. One was quite long, and there were many smaller ones.

For two days she has been passing bits of the roundworms. The excessive preening has stopped, and she is much more relaxed.