Was she always mean? I ask b/c I have one BR who became mean when she got frostbit and I attribute it to pain b/c now that she is healed she is her sweetself. She took in the watchful roo role this winter and did not tuck her head and her comb was bad. So if your Austrolorp was hurting or not feeling well that might make her pick on others more. The fact that you have another you think is not thriving is concerning. I'd ask your vet if they'll do the fecal test.
Ok just so it doesn't get confusing, I started with 5 australorps chicks (5 weeks) in October last year, one turned out to be a boy so sold him in January and bought two barred rock Plymouth pullets that were only a week or two younger. We have also bought 2 wyandottes last week which are quarantined which are 1-2 months younger so my pullets range from 6-8 months of age.
I do have my dead australorp in the freezer ATM, we froze her straight away as I will plant her under a new nut or fruit tree in their yard (it's autumn here).
I have thought about having a look but I don't think I am ready for that yet!
She died on our way to the vet, I know most will laugh about taking her to the vet being a chicken and I could tell she was gone anyway but I wanted to know what was wrong because I wanted to make sure this wasn't something that would go through my entire flock and I need to learn if I want to keep chickens. We took her to the vet anyway to see if the vet could tell us why she died and the vet said both her crop and vent were fine and wasn't egg bound and that she looked in really good condition. The vet was hesitant to look any further and just said that she might have had an infection.
It's interesting what you say about how they pretend to eat, I noticed that too!
I first noticed that a few weeks ago after I had separated her because she was really nasty and drawing lots of blood on one of my other Australorps. She didn't take to being on her own at all, she was very angry about it (this is a girl that used to crow when we still had our cockerel and she would compete). Anyway she stopped laying and eating and I thought she was depressed so I put her back with the others as she looked like she lost weight but I started giving her feed mushed so that she would eat it and she came good and put on weight and looked to be moulting.
With the face, I had her in the outdoor area at the time as I took her away from the others, she was standing near a wine barrel full of compost when I saw a white mite on her face which was what caught my attention. I noticed some white dry skin areas near the base of her comb. I googled it and found stuff on scaly face mite so I figured it was that. It could be possible that the mite I saw on her face she had just picked up from the wine barrel and that was why it was white and not red. I rubbed some olive oil onto the area and that looked to clear it up. Her legs were fine.
I have also started on the others combs as they have white spots just in case and they cleared straight up also. The one with the runny poo looked to have a raised scale on her legs so I am doing her legs as well.
I also washed out both coops the other day it's some Eco dog wash I have that uses tea tree and eucalyptus oil.
I have checked their feathers for lice etc and they all look good, the Plymouth with watery poos also to me looks like she's not thriving and she doesn't seem interested in pellets. She got sick when we first got her but it was hot and I think she was dehydrated, she perked up after a couple of days of keeping her hydrated and giving her some treats so she would eat. She's also at the bottom of the pecking order so the australorps just bully her.
I have another 2 new wyandottes quarantined in another area with their own yard. One of them look to have this comb problem but much worse I will take a photo today to show you. She came like this so its not something she picked up here, I have just been giving her a few days to settle before I start handling her too much. Otherwise she looks really healthy.
I found a dead mouse in the coup near the broody australorp yesterday. It looked like it may have been pecked on the side of its face, I know they can freeze of fright can they die of it too?
That spray sounds like a great idea and I will have a read up on favus, thanks
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