One of my hens started to lose feathers around her neck a while ago. Her egg production got very strange (bumps on shells, no shells, egg production stopped for almost a week). I noticed her vent feathers looking pretty shabby, so I've been scrubbing the coop (it's always very clean), sprinkling DE on the coop and on the girls. I bought Poultry Protector and sprayed it on the coop and on the girls.
It's been raining almost every day here, so I'm sure this stuff is just washing right off.
Yesterday we had a sunny, warm day, so I decided to give the 3 girls a warm bath in plain water. I wanted to wash off the dirt to see what was going on. Here are photos of Edie's (the one most affected) vent area. There are lots of broken feathers with the shafts still in her skin, there are a few small bruise-like sores and there are some yellow/white flakes.
What is this? I figure it is some kind of mite. I've seen them once or twice in the coop right before I do another major scrub down, but I've never seen them on the girls. They scratch a bit, but don't peck each other's feathers. I don't have roosters either.
All of the girls are in great spirits and run around my backyard eating and pecking. Except for the feather-loss and the one having egg problems, they act perfectly normal.
Please advise!!
Thanks.
