The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[TeaChick]

My 14 yr old step son took my chickens their oatmeal he came back in telling me they were crazy and come running and started to eat it before he even sat it all the way down....I told him oatmeal with a little shredded cheese ( which i forgot to put away last night) must be really good. BTW Teachick you little fuzzy is cute just like kids we always think the ones we have are the best..

Yeah, my kids are always amazed at what my chickens go crazy for too. =)

Thanks! Yeah, I think mine are the cutest little things ever!!!

 

[armorfirelady]

Ok

No the bare spots on either side of her comb to above her eyes. The feathers look like someone went after her with the clippers (when I was taking pics I asked her if you stopped by to giver her a trim )


 

well...not me this time

I'm really having a hard time seeing it in the photos.  I think I'm having trouble getting the perspective and looking at it wrong for some reason.

Ok as you look at the pics your looking at the back of her head as her beak is at the ground eating. See the comb? Look to the left you can see a little of her black & white feathers than it's all red skin to her eyes. It's like that in the right as well.
Let me see if I can crop the pick on my iPad. No promises tho.........

 

[Leahs Mom]

Okay. Got it. Now I need to go out and look at my 2 BRs to see what they look like around there.

 

[Leahs Mom]

No signs of molting anywhere?

 

[lalaland]

I'm spitting mad tonight. told y'all a week or so ago my cat knocked down an egg basket and took out 3 dozen eggs.
tonight I come home, as soon as I open the door I am hit with the nustock smell - sure enough they managed to knock a jar of nustock off the shelf. broken glass, oil everywhere, oil stains on the floor and little nustock cat prints all over the danged house. and the smell!!

gol dang it.

 

[armorfirelady]

N

No signs of molting anywhere?

Nope and she is still laying like a champ. But I don't think she did a full molt last fall.
Here's the pic cropped and rotated

And then closer

I think that larger black oval is her ear. I need to go look now. I'll try to flip her around on the roost to.

The black spots on her comb come & go as they do on the other hens. I am not worried about those.

She normally has feathers in those spots. Not bald, that's why it caught my eye. And no feathers around the coop or runs either

 

[armorfirelady]

I'm spitting mad tonight.  told y'all a week or so ago my cat knocked down an egg basket and took out 3 dozen eggs.
tonight I come home, as soon as I open the door I am hit with the nustock smell - sure enough they managed to knock a jar of nustock off the shelf.  broken glass, oil everywhere, oil stains on the floor and little nustock cat prints all over the danged house.  and the smell!!

gol dang it.  

Oh boy. My cats like to knock things down to. Pens, glasses, etc. eggs if their not in the cupboard.

 

[lalaland]

N
Nope and she is still laying like a champ. But I don't think she did a full molt last fall.
Here's the pic cropped and rotated

And then closer

I think that larger black oval is her ear. I need to go look now. I'll try to flip her around on the roost to.

The black spots on her comb come & go as they do on the other hens. I am not worried about those.

She normally has feathers in those spots. Not bald, that's why it caught my eye. And no feathers around the coop or runs either

that is strange. if you have nustock, I think I would put a little on her head. Because....either someone is picking feathers (doesn't seem likely because so close to her head) and the nustock is a good repellent, or....some kind of mite issue, which it doesn't really look like to me.

Try the night time exam and let us know. I take it she is the only one showing this feather loss?

 

[armorfirelady]

Here she is a couple weeks ago

And ones I just took now. I noticed the feather loss over the weekend when her comb looked very pale. She was back to normal red the next day.

I might try the Nustock but with the temps still being cold I am hesitant. Don't want any frost bite from it.

ETA no bugs that I could see. Doesn't seem to hurt her. She roost with the other tots so I don't see them pecking her. At first I thought it was feather picking from the big girls. They do occasionally peck her when she tries to eat all the food when it's first put down. But that's the only time I have seen it and its not all the time. And they have never left her bald like this before

And no one else has feather loss. And she is still laying & eating & acting normal

 

[lalaland]

huh.

feather loss on both sides of the head? Could she possibly have scraped her head somehow?

I've nustocked in -30 without a problem, but if you are confident it isn't a skin thing or parasite thing (hard to tell from the pics)..then maybe not.
I think feather picking isn't likely, because it is all in one tiny area and I would think it would be a bit more random. She isn't crested, so it isn't like a chicken was picking at her crest.

Was there anything kind of gooey that she could have gotten into? If there was some sort of food stuck into her feathers, would another hen be "cleaning" the food up and get the feathers?? I can't think of anything like that to be honest. Even something like yogurt I think wouldn't result in the feather loss.

maybe take a magnifying glass, lay her down wrapped in a towel with a towel edge covering her eyes so she is still. see if you can tell anything about the skin.

Maybe take a sharpie and draw a line on her skin where the feather loss is, to see if if gets bigger tomorrow?

I'm stymied.