What's up with my Red Star?

[TwistedPines]

I have a couple of red star hens that are great layers and pretty docile birds. I have noticed one of the three has started losing feathers around her behind and the area looks pretty red. She eats great, isn't hot to the touch, lays every day, so I don't think it's bothering her much. Is she just getting picked at? I have some blue kote if that'll help.

Thanks,

 

[Pyxis]

That's actually a common sign of lice or mites. I would dust your flock for mites and clean out the coop and dust that too. Mites especially like to hang out in that area and cause feather loss, so I would lean towards mites. They also only get on the birds at night, so you wouldn't necessarily see them on your birds unless you check during the night.

 

[TwistedPines]

If it is mites, can she be the only one that has them? None of my other birds have any sort of feather loss except for the favorite hens that have lost back and wing feathers from my 2 big roos. As a precaution, I guess I'll give them a good dusting with some DE first and see how that works.

 

[Pyxis]

If they do have mites or lice DE probably isn't going to kill them. It actually doesn't work as well as people say it does. If you're dusting I would go with Sevin 5% garden dust. There's always the possibility that another bird is plucking her but around the vent isn't a common place for that to happen and is really more of an indicator of mites and lice. If she has them the other birds probably do too but aren't showing it as much as her or don't have them as severely. Here is a link that shows some other causes of feather loss and might help you out if it turns out to not be parasites.