One of my 3 year old orpington has something really strange going on. For about 5 months now she's been missing feathers on her lower chest and abdomen. At first I thought she was going broody, but she's had yet attempted to sit. Not only is the feathers missing, the skin is red (probably from sun exposure) and it is sagging so much it swings back and forth when she walks.
She's also still missing lots of her head feathers from last year from too much attention from the boys. I don't think that she ever molted last year either.
Diet is usually purina layer pellets. Some dumor 5 grain scratch is given most afternoons to the entire flock. They have access to oyster shell as desired. There are 18 hens, 1 rooster and 6 chicks in the flock.
The coop is 10x8 with pine shaving on the floor. There is plenty of roosting space with 4 different areas for them to choose. Door window and window on rear of coop open along with lower 1 ft x 1 ft window near floor for additional ventilation. The coop was cleaned out entirely last month, sprayed for mites with a liquid permethrin 10. And then nesting boxes also got dusted with poultry dust for mites as well as each bird.
She acts normal, appetite is unchanged, activity level unchanged. Poops I'm not certain, but I haven't noticed any unusual or sickly looking ones in the yard. The only other thing to add is her eggs are different. Instead of the medium brown eggs they are very pale, thinner shelled and chalky in texture.
So after all of that, can ANYONE please help me figure out what is going on? I'm attaching some pictures as well to see the issue
She's also still missing lots of her head feathers from last year from too much attention from the boys. I don't think that she ever molted last year either.
Diet is usually purina layer pellets. Some dumor 5 grain scratch is given most afternoons to the entire flock. They have access to oyster shell as desired. There are 18 hens, 1 rooster and 6 chicks in the flock.
The coop is 10x8 with pine shaving on the floor. There is plenty of roosting space with 4 different areas for them to choose. Door window and window on rear of coop open along with lower 1 ft x 1 ft window near floor for additional ventilation. The coop was cleaned out entirely last month, sprayed for mites with a liquid permethrin 10. And then nesting boxes also got dusted with poultry dust for mites as well as each bird.
She acts normal, appetite is unchanged, activity level unchanged. Poops I'm not certain, but I haven't noticed any unusual or sickly looking ones in the yard. The only other thing to add is her eggs are different. Instead of the medium brown eggs they are very pale, thinner shelled and chalky in texture.
So after all of that, can ANYONE please help me figure out what is going on? I'm attaching some pictures as well to see the issue
