Questions re: egg production and red skin/no feathers

[speedchick21]

Hi there! I recently acquired 25 chickens from a coworker who was moving. Never owned chickens before. The flock is a mix of Black Australorp (2), Rhode Island Red (2), Plymouth Rock (3), Black Chocin (2), Buff Brahma (3), Easter Eggers (5), and Red Sex Link (5), and something that looks like the Plymouth Rock but with feathered feet (2). When we went and looked at the hens, they all looked horrible, missing feathers and very red skin. Owner said they were still molting (we live in Michigan and it was early May). They turned 2 yrs in May. We went to pick them up and they are all still missing feathers and have very red skin. We got them all moved in to their new home at our house though just this past weekend. I treated them with Sevin dust and have been upping their protein intake with salmon, tuna, and scrambled eggs to help their feathers. I have noticed a couple of them pecking at others but this is A LOT of feather loss so I can't see that a couple birds could mess up the whole flock.

So two questions... First, any idea why they are missing feathers and what I should do? They have a wood ash dust bath too...I can't see any bugs.

Second question, doesn't only a dozen eggs a day seem low in production? I thought they should lay every day or at least every other day? Since they just moved to our house, I didn't expect much for the first couple weeks but the lady I got them from said all she got was a dozen a day.

Lastly, one of the birds was injured at some point and has no use of her right leg...she hops around on one leg all day long and the other chickens peck at her. The lady we got them from had her separated but I don't have the space to do that unfortunately. I've tried giving her away but no one is interested. She doesn't lay eggs anymore either for some reason. Shes a sweetie so its a shame. My husband and I are trying to figure out what to do with her. I hate to kill her off :/

Anyway, any advice would be much appreciated! I don't know how to add photos as I don't see any tree, paperclip, or mountain icon (I searched it lol)...

Angie
Bellevue, MI

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Missing feathers/red skin sounds more like a serious feather picking issue going on and/or bugs -- and given you have seen picking going on I think you have your answer. Feather picking, unfortunately, can be VERY hard (in a lot of cases impossible) to stop short of culling the offending bird(s).

 

[speedchick21]

I was afraid of that...I've seen the Red Sex Link doing it so far...hmmm. If I can figure out how to post pics I will.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

As to production - it seems the previous owner was pretty upfront on the matter of production, is there a particular reason you expected more? Given that you have birds over the age of 2 and some sort of stressor(s) in play (the picking itself and/or the issue(s) that are causing the picking - or underlying health concerns) I am not too surprised at the production. What are you feeding in addition to the added protein sources?

 

[speedchick21]

Yes, she was upfront, I was just curious because everything I've read says basically an egg a day or every other day. They are getting Dumor laying crumbles and Layena laying pellets in two different feeders (one inside and one outside), grit, and oyster shell.

 

[speedchick21]

Anyone else with ideas? Please?

 

[donrae]

For the pics--you found the smilies, on my computer the insert image icon is two to the left from the smilie face that shows all the smilies. Hope that helps you.

For the feathers, I'm thinking it's a picking thing also. There are threads on here about how to deal with that, and different things work for different folks. Separating the offender, increasing protein (sounds like you got that covered), increasing activity, anti-pick sprays, pinless peepers....they're all options and all have worked for someone at one point in time.

As for egg production, that may be a combination of age, condition and breeds. My 2 year old birds don't lay quite as well as my younger birds, and production drops a little each year from there on out. Birds stressed by poor physical condition will lay less. Birds stressed by a move will lay less. Time and taking care of the feather loss should help those. Breed selection also comes into play. Your Aussies, RIR, red sex links, Rocks and maybe Easter eggers are good production breeds, but Brahmas, Cochins and your other feather legged bird are traditionally less than stellar layers.

 

[speedchick21]

Thanks, I was posting from work earlier and couldn't see the toolbar at all on Firefox. I see it now! I'll check out the picker threads. Here are some photos, maybe this will help! Oh and their run is 12'x23' and coop is 8'x12'. Thanks!

 

[NEChickenNoob]

WOW that's pretty severe. I would suspect lice or something. Check out the pest section.

 

[donrae]

Wow! Some of that could be from another bird picking, but some of it isn't in the usual pattern a feather picker uses (that throat, for instance). I'd look into lice/mites.