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

[DorianGray]

Hi

we have 4 chooks and now 3 of them are lsoing feathers on thier tummies only. Still eating and laying and being chicken-like.

I wondered if it was moult but the feather loss seems wrong.

I've examined them with a magnifying glass but can't see any creepy crawlies ( they were not impressed!)

I am about to clean the eglus for the 2nd time in a week and apply mite powder just in case but . .

 

could it be due to wear and tear?

we have 4 birds in one eglu with an extender run and PLASTIC bars. has anyone else got these and noticed feather loss?

My other thought is that the girls do like a dust bath but the ground has been so hard due to frost, have they champered off their feathers by squirming?

 

All poo is normal ( just lots of !!)

all birds are laying daily and seem bright eyed and happy.

 

Do I need to be worried???

[Egluntyne]

It is fairly common.

 

One Omleteer recently reported that she had discovered that her bald hen was allergic to Hemcore.

 

Are you using this?

[DorianGray]

No we're not using Hemcore.

 

Also this has only started in the last 2 - 3 weeks & nothing has changed in their diet (layers pellets + "treat" of greens & apples + corn & also some spice mixed in with the pellets), hence we're wondering if it is due to bathing.

[Egluntyne]

Sounds possible.

[quickcluck]

Are you using garden lime?

[DorianGray]

Nope, but thankyou for the thought.

 

They're still bald but seem very happy in themselves and they're still laying prolifically (26 eggs p/w from 4 birds ain't bad).

[andrewhelen]

I noticed our Miss Pepperpot was getting a bald tummy last week. The Gingernut Ranger appears ok.

 

It seems that they have been just worn away from dust bathing, but I wonder about two things...

 

Firstly, Miss Pepperpot (Charlie) will sleep in the nesting tray and consequesntly this gets a fair amount of poop in it overnight - this may be part of the problem - any ideas to stop her doing this?

 

Secondly, we are using shredded paper as our nesting material. Assume this is not asn issue as Dino (Gingernut Ranger) is ok.

 

BTW we are still getting 2 eggs per day and have been since they started laying in July - can only remember 5 days at most when we only got one egg