The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

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.

There are a few pinprick sized spots of blood that are hard to see in the pictures. I'll have to try the magnifying glass idea tomorrow after work. Thanks for letting me know about the Nustock being ok in arctic temps. Might just throw some on to see if it improves it. I'm wondering about maybe something fungal? Tho how she would,get it and the others wouldn't is beyond me. When I check on them at night she doesn't seem to scratching at the area. When they had bugs you could tell from them scratching so much when I went out after dark.

I'm stumped as well. She doesn't get food on her head. She eats to fast lol. And they haven't had yogurt in over a week. I've seem them pick it off each other when it flies around but I don't think that's what happening here.

And Lala maybe the cats like the smell of Nustock? My one cat Sadie loves the smell of bio freeze and bag balm. She is currently rubbing against my feet like mad women since I coated them with bag balm because they are so dry. Thankfully I have socks on or I would have furry feet

 

[texasmomma]

Hi all,

I haven't been here for a long while, and decided to catch up on reading from where I left off, so it took me a while. I'm down to just four hens from our 12 last summer. We put the house on the market and the realtor thought we would have better luck selling if the unsightly coop was not in the yard. So I gave 8 of my hens, including my favorite sfh, to a dear friend, who has doted on them ever since. Then, we ended up deciding not to sell the house, so I have hatching eggs on the way. I really wish I had purchased a bigger incubator.

I'll try to keep up for a while. My three eldest have two more speech and debate tournaments in the next couple of weeks, and then life will get back to normal. I hope.

Hubby is going to have to work on the coop before the new chicks need it. Otherwise, I may have to put the unsightly coop back up. He hates that coop, so I'm guessing he finishes the other one. We figured out where we want to put the ventilation over the weekend. It an old greenhouse, turned garage, so should be enough room for a few chickens.

 

[aoxa]

Ok question/thoughts on what may be going on with Stella's head. I've checked them thoroughly for bugs but tonight I will check again. I relay don't think its mites/lice because I would see them elsewhere on her but I have not. (Sorry pics not great but it's hard to take a picture of a moving head)



I originally thought it might be the big girls picking feathers off her head. But she is not the lowest on the pecking order so I am doubtful about that.

Did you show her pictures of my NNs and maybe she thought she could pull it off?

In all seriousness I am voting feather picking from the others.

 

[Pozees]

AFL where does she roost - near a wall or vent? Any chance there's a hole she is sticking her head through, or some stray piece of wood or plastic she's catching the feathers on? I agree with lala I would go ahead and put some Nustock on - it may address whatever the problem is even if you never figure it out. The pin prick sized blood spots do indicate the feathers may have been pulled out, the question is, by what/whom?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Hi all,

I haven't been here for a long while, and decided to catch up on reading from where I left off, so it took me a while. I'm down to just four hens from our 12 last summer. We put the house on the market and the realtor thought we would have better luck selling if the unsightly coop was not in the yard. So I gave 8 of my hens, including my favorite sfh, to a dear friend, who has doted on them ever since. Then, we ended up deciding not to sell the house, so I have hatching eggs on the way.

I really wish I had purchased a bigger incubator.

I'll try to keep up for a while. My three eldest have two more speech and debate tournaments in the next couple of weeks, and then life will get back to normal. I hope.

Hubby is going to have to work on the coop before the new chicks need it. Otherwise, I may have to put the unsightly coop back up. He hates that coop, so I'm guessing he finishes the other one. We figured out where we want to put the ventilation over the weekend. It an old greenhouse, turned garage, so should be enough room for a few chickens.

That sounds like it will be a really large, nice hen house once you can get it predator proof!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Hmmm it does almost sound like sticking her head into something that is scraping on both sides when she pulls it out and rubbing the feathers off on both sides.

 

[Kassaundra]

Hmmm it does almost sound like sticking her head into something that is scraping on both sides when she pulls it out and rubbing the feathers off on both sides.

I don't know, but seems if something was rubbing feathers off like that wouldn't you think the comb would show some injury too? (the collective you, not meaning specifally you LM)

 

[hotrodflash]

There are a few pinprick sized spots of blood that are hard to see in the pictures. I'll have to try the magnifying glass idea tomorrow after work. Thanks for letting me know about the Nustock being ok in arctic temps. Might just throw some on to see if it improves it. I'm wondering about maybe something fungal? Tho how she would,get it and the others wouldn't is beyond me. When I check on them at night she doesn't seem to scratching at the area. When they had bugs you could tell from them scratching so much when I went out after dark.

What about ear mites? Gently push the feathers covering her ear canal forward and see if you see a tiny bug and/or the canal is crusty or smelly. My sister had a rooster that got ear mites and lost a few feathers on his head too, that is when we caught him we could smell the stench from his ears. Cleaned them out with peroxide, cleaning as much gunk out as possible, then filled the ear canal with antibiotic ointment. He was healed after about 3 treatments, none of the hens have had ear mites just him.

 

[RedRidge]

It's that time of year... had 12 of the 16 of these HRIR hatch night... another is pipping.
I so LOVE the babies.




In this second pic the bottom 2 are HRIR (they are fresh out of the bator)...
Top chick with chipmunk stripes is an F1 who is a few days old - part of my Rhodebar improvement breeding (an Rhodebar cock over HRIR hens).



Brooders are getting full... at least the temperatures are improving... spring is on the way...

 

[aoxa]

It's that time of year... had 12 of the 16 of these HRIR hatch night... another is pipping.
I so LOVE the babies.




In this second pic the bottom 2 are HRIR (they are fresh out of the bator)...
Top chick with chipmunk stripes is an F1 who is a few days old - part of my Rhodebar improvement breeding (an Rhodebar cock over HRIR hens).



Brooders are getting full... at least the temperatures are improving... spring is on the way...

This is how I am marking my similar chicks. I hatched mutts for someone who wanted them and had to figure out a way to band them so I didn't mix them up with my HBPR (Heritage Barred Plymouth Rock) chicks as some of them look exactly the same.

Vet wrap is a wonderful thing!