What's wrong with my hen?!

[sarahpageharris]

I got this hen about 9 months ago. She has just
Slowly gotten worse. When I picked her up her
wings had been clipped so I just attributed it to that. She's boney and tons of feather loss. She eats drinks and lays fine. I have 7 other hens and a roo. Others are all healthy.

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[Wyorp Rock]

I got this hen about 9 months ago. She has just
Slowly gotten worse. When I picked her up her
wings had been clipped so I just attributed it to that. She's boney and tons of feather loss. She eats drinks and lays fine. I have 7 other hens and a roo. Others are all healthy.

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Welcome To BYC.

The red - areas on the wings may be due to rooster mating. She won't grown back feathers until she molts. You can apply some Blu-Kote if it seems irritated. A chicken saddle/hen apron may help give her a bit of protection as well.

Check her over for lice/mites to make sure some of the feather loss isn't due to those too. Also observe to see if any of the other chickens are picking/pulling out her feathers.

If you think she is losing weight, then you may want to weigh her to get a base line weight now. Then weigh her at the same time everyday to see if it decreases. Offer her some extra protein like egg or tuna in addition to her normal feed.

There are many things that can contribute to weight loss, so taking a fecal sample to your vet for testing of worms will help identify if internal parasites are the cause.

Keep us posted.