4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Rolo Rabbit]

Hi everyone. I'm worried about Shirley. About a month ago we noticed she suddenly had a bald bottom so I read the post about feather loss and the only thing we thought it could be was mites. We gave the coop a good dusting with red mite powder and gave all the chooks a good going over too. She then started to get a bit of stubble so we thought she was getting better but today she looks worse than ever and the baldness seems to be spreading to her vent area. She generally looks scruffy and, it may be my imagination, a bit skinnier than she was. Any ideas?

[Egluntyne]

It sounds as if she might be moulting. All the symptoms you describe seem to fit with that.

 

Why not check her over for live and mites just to be on the safe side.

 

You could also worm her.

 

Chances are that she will feather up by herself.

[The Dogmother]

Are any of the other chooks losing feathers too?

 

There are two possible causes (I think that we can eliminate the chance of broodiness in this cold), unless she is starting a late moult:

 

1. That she has lice; the others would be likely to have them too, but she may be worse off if she's poorly in some other way. You would need to inspect her nethers closely for any signs of lice crawling around in her fluff, then spray her with Johnson's mite spray if you find any. It is also worth spraying the rest of the flock to be sure.

 

2. One of the others might be pecking her feathers out - this is more likely if the others still have a full complement of botty fluff. In this case, you will need to fit bumper bits to the offender.

 

In both cases, you can soothe the area by mixing up a water spray with a couple of drops each of lavender and tea tree oils. Spray this on her nethers a couple of times a day to stop the irritation.

 

Do let us know how you get on.

[Rolo Rabbit]

OOOH! Just looked out of the window to see how Shirl was and saw Babs following her around, having a little peck at her! This will sound a bit silly but I really thought our girls were well behaved and wouldn't do such a thing! I don't know if this is the original reason or if Babs just can't resist now that it's all pink but it looks like we're going to have to go down the bumper bit route. Where do we get one and are there instructions somewhere on how to fit it?

[Rolo Rabbit]

... but I have just noticed that it's not just her botty that's bald, it looks like under her wing is going as well. Does that make it more likely that she's moulting? She's definitely only a year old (today as it happens!!) so I thought she shouldn't moult til next year?

[The Dogmother]

As she was a late hatch, she might well be moulting this winter... a late moult might explain it. Best keep an eye on that feather pecking though as it's hard to stop once a habit forms, and if they start to peck out the quills once the new feathers start to emerge, then they will get a taste for the blood in them too I'd try som Ukadex to stop them from pecking her.

[Rolo Rabbit]

Thank you for your advice - it's so reassuring knowing that somebody will always be there to help.