Three-legged chicken update + lots of questions!

[Cecilia]

Heya;

I just thought I'd update to say that she ain't so good lookin' (our three legged darling) now only has 2 legs! Her third leg fell two days ago! She's doing pretty okay, and has grown a bit. She's still at the bottom of the pecking order, but that's to be expected. However, I have (yet another) question: 3 of our chickens, icluding she ain't so good lookin', have been losing feathers. I don't think it can be moulting, because I don't think they're old enough to go through their first moult yet. Other than this, they seem to be doing fine. It's just that the ones with bare patches (especially she ain't so good lookin') are getting pecked at. Someone on this board told be to use blu-kote as an anti-pecking dressing, but I've been questioning whether or not it's okay to eat eggs if the chicken's been treated with blu-kote. On the blue-kote website, it says not to use blu-kote on food-producing animals. Does this include egg-laying chickens?

I'm also wondering WHY the chickens are losing feathers. I've searched them for lice/mites, and I can't see anything. I have a layer's mix, and occasionally supplement it with a hot mash with peanut butter (for protein) in it. I'm getting 4 eggs a day (she ain't so good lookin' won't lay, she has 2 vents...seriously screwed up anatomy) from 5 chickens, and it's nearly january and COLD. I take this as a good sign. They have enough space...I'm really confused. I'm using LOTS of straw as bedding, using it partially as insulation. Could it be the bedding?

I'm also wondering if I could maybe use vaseline instead of blu-kote...I've been using it to protect their wobbly bits from frostbite.

OKAY! Thanks so much for all your help in the past!

 

[SpottedCrow]

Unless you're spraying the blukote on the eggs themselves, it's fine to eat them.

Chickens moult 3 times in their first year, then once a year after that.
The first time is to get rid of the chick down. The second is "teenaged" feathers and the third is their first adult feathering.

As long as SASGL is keeping up with the others, she should be okay. Sometimes they can get bored and need a bit of a diversion...hanging a head of cabbage or some mealworms or crickets for them to catch can work wonders.