Chicken bald back

[SteveandSarah]

Looking for some advice from the forum again... we took in some new ex-batts a few weeks ago, who are rooming with our previous girl.

 

We were away overnight but had someone tending to the girls for us, but we've come back to find one of the girls now has an almost completely bare chest. We've no idea whether this is moulting or the result of a sickness of battle in the hen house - it seems to fit the pattern described on this site for moulting but is very sudden and seems out of season. She also has other feathers missing from other parts of her body, and her sister is also showing a bald patch on her neck.

 

We've been seeing feathers in the hen house and the run for a week or so now, and there's been very little laying since the heavy snowfalls at the beginning of last week. At the time we put that down to the weather.

 

That's problem number one. The other worry is that Tara (the half-bald girl) also has a big soft lump on her neck. This seems to fit the description for being crop bound, except for the fact that that talks about a hard lump. What do we do with a soft one? Will it go away? There's some redness on parts of the lump and it looks sore.

 

We're trying to get some pictures but of course every camera in the house has chosen this moment to run out of batteries.

 

Any help for two worried and inxperienced chicken keepers would be greatly appreciated

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Sorry to hear this . I have no experience of ex-batts I'm afraid but regarding the "lump" on her neck, you are sure it's not just her crop? Whereabouts on her neck is it? It is supposed to be kind of squidgy and soft (and feels gritty). If you can see it's red does that mean there's no feathers there? Does it look like they've been pecked off?

 

Sorry for all the questions, don't know if I'm helping much . Hopefully an experienced ex-batt keeper will be along shortly .

[SteveandSarah]

Here's a picture of the lump - I guess it probably is the crop, but obviously with no feathers it's now exposed and so we're not sure if it should look like this!

 

With all the snow she's had very little grass recently which is part of why we're confused.

 

 

No, there's no feathers - as we said, she's lost a lot of feathers all of a sudden. As you can hopefully see in the pic some seem to have stems and some are gone completely bald - don't really know what pecked off looks like compared to moulted as this is our first season of chicken keeping.

 

Thanks for the help

[SteveandSarah]

Have now taken a couple of pictures which show the problem much better - too big to link in to the thread though

 

http://gallery.me.com/stephen.howells/100021/IMG_0703/web.jpg

 

gives a good view of the bulge we're worried about, and:

 

http://gallery.me.com/stephen.howells/100021/IMG_0716/web.jpg

 

shows off some of the other feather loss.

 

Thanks again for any suggestions people can give about what's happening here or how we can best deal with it

[mostin]

It looks quite central doesn't it? I was expecting it to be further to the right if it was her crop. I'm no expert though. I will pm this link to two omleteers who should be able to help you much more .

[SteveandSarah]

Thanks Obviously any advice on how worried we should be about the feather loss is appreciated too!

[Egluntyne]

It does look a bit central, but apart from that it has all the appearance of a fullish crop. It just looks a bit stark because of the baldness.

 

If she had an impacted crop, it will be hard and a bit 'gritty' feeling.

 

See what it is like in the morning. If it has gone down, then you can reasonably assume that it is her crop, and it is working normally.

 

If not, have a look at **this article**

 

Re the feather loss....it sounds like a normal moult to me, if a bit late. I have one at the moment who decided to shed her clothes during the worst of the weather. Maybe they were late hatchers.

[Guest]

it's just her crop, have a look at this one of our girls, the chicken front right?

 

http://www.liverpoolpoet.talktalk.net/happychooks1.jpg

 

 

life guard poultry tonic is great for getting the feathers growing again.

[SteveandSarah]

Thanks folks, will try to stop worrying then

 

I guess this is just one of those things that when you've had the chicks around a while you have a much better idea of what's normal. It certainly seemed to us like a reasonable explanation that they'd stopped laying in protest at snow stopping them free-range, but looking back now maybe moulting makes a little bit more sense...

[Guest]

.....I guess this is just one of those things that when you've had the chicks around a while you have a much better idea of what's normal. ....:

 

absolutely! The ex batt girls were our first chickens ever and every little thing had me on here asking questions because, like you, I didn't know what was normal and what wasn't. That's what the forum is here for

[Barkisland]

Gerty, one of my ex batts has started moulting today, daft thing. I know it's milder today, but it's hardly time to cast a clout!

[The Dogmother]

Hi, sorry to have missed this and thanks for the link Mostin. Egluntine has given sterling advice, wait and see what develops; I agree that it looks central for a crop but each bird differs slightly, if it's gone down in the morning then it is a functional crop.

 

Ex-batts are more prone to impacted crop, partly because of their poor muscle tone and also because they're greedy beggars and tend to eat too much; because the crop expands such a lot, it loses some elasticity and the ability to empty properly.

 

Wait until morning then report back, but if you're at all concerned then take her to see a vet.

 

Sorry not to be able to give any more detailed advice but it's hard to diagnose without seeing her myself.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Well, I've learnt something new from this thread. I didn't know the crop wasn't quite central .

[The Dogmother]

It's over to the right ANH, bit like a right breast.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I've only ever had a feel of their crops at bedtime when they're in the eglu (and it's usually dark!) Should have had a better look in the daytime .

[SteveandSarah]

Crop looked much better this morning as she emerged from the Eglu, so that's that worry sorted.

 

We're still a bit taken aback by the speed and severity of her moult though. May well go for a "just in case" course of mite treatment...

[abwsco]

Ah, she's got lots of lovely new feathers coming through The moults can be quite severe and shocking. Our garden looked like one of the chickens had been atttacked by a cat when one of ours was moulting as feathers were just falling out as she walked. Another one lost all her bottom feathers overnight. Chick crumb, organic cat food, rinsed tuna and meal worms are good for them when they're moulting Welcome to the worry that exbatts put you through. Sure I went greyer when we got ours!