worried about this crop?!

[sydney13]

my silkie has been slowly losing feathers on her chest and each week it gets worse and worse. i asked about it a few weeks ago and people thought it might be a broody patch were she plucks out the feathers. the problem is she started laying a few months ago and hasn't been fully broody yet. sometimes i see a few feathers in her nest but thats all. i also notice her crop seems to look a bit large and round like a golf ball this morning when i let them out. maybe its just because i never really saw a chickens crop without the feathers but it was the morning so she could have eaten much? do you think this could be caused from mites, just her picking the feathers out or something else? i also noticed when she bends over you can see her vent and before it would be covered with feathers/=. i dont kow if that means anything or if it because she has started laying?

i not sure if i should post this under here or under predators and pest?

 

[sourland]

I don't think anything is wrong with her crop. I think it is just more visible because of the feather loss. Is there any possibility that another chicken is feather picking her?

 

[sydney13]

Quote:
the rest or the chickens are only 2 months and they definitely would not be plucking the feathers. occasionally my goose cant resist and will pluck out a fluffy feather from her and then gobble it down, but that is always from her back and only happens about once a week not enough to cause this.

 

[emys]

If you are worried about the crop, remove her food early tonight and check her first thing in the morning. If her crop is small and empty in the morning - nothing to worry about. If you feel a mass in there first thing in the morning, then you have something to worry about.

The feather loss could possibly be a hard molt?

(There all fixed)

 

[sydney13]

Quote:
whats a hard molt? are they supposed to molt this time of year?

 

[emys]

A hard molt is when they loose big patches of feathers all at once instead of slowly. You may want to stop any low protein treats and feed a higher protein feed if it seems like she is in hard molt. (Make sure she has no mites or lice that might cause her to pluck her own feathers.) I have a Silkie hen who is molting now. Different birds will molt at different times of the year.

Check out this post for pictures of birds in hard molt and/or recovering from one...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=257565

 

[sydney13]

Quote:
thanks i feel a lot better now

i removed the food at night and the crop was small and normal size and i also noticed some feathers are starting to grow back. after looking at that thread i definitely think its a hard molt and she looks just like some of the birds in those pics.