very itchy 5 month old sebright

[poonam]

Hi folks, i have a 5-6 month old sebright who seems to be very itchy. it may just be that she's preening, but she does it somewhat aggressively, and goes at her vent a lot. she also itches her legs quite a bit, but her legs dont look excessively scaly.

She has even pulled out/lost a few of her tail feathers.

i've looked in her feathers and her skin and I don't see any obvious signs of lice or mites or any other external parasite.

nothing funky about her skin either. I just see some new feathers coming in.

Is this normal?

Poonam

 

[maybejoey]

Right below her vent is a type of sac that she is getting basicaly a cleaning solution to clean herself. Make sure she has access to dirt so she can dust bathe.

 

[poonam]

thanks she dust bathes all the time and preens herself a lot! is the losing of tail feathers an odd thing?

 

[laceynoelle]

If you have a rooster it is. Sometimes the Roosters will pull out feathers if they mate a lot. Other than that she might be molting.

 

[poonam]

is it possible for a 5-6 month old pullet who hasn't laid yet to be molting?

 

[Firefighter Chick]

does she have enough room to play? is she getting bored? maybe you need to get some toys or something interactive for her.