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

[Clur]

We have two chickens and one, Florrie has an extremely raggedly undercarriage and looks very threadbare. They all (we had three girls at the time) went through a moult late last year/early this year and Dilys is in fine feather now, but Florrie looks awful in comparison. She's also quite red and warm.

 

She's absolutely fine in every other aspect, bright-eyed, active, eating, drinking and laying so I'm not unduly worried - just wondered if this is still down to the moult or if it could be something else? There's no evidence of lice or mites. They have auboise/hemcore in their nesting box and bark in their run and free-range for about 2-4 hours a day.

 

Thanks!

[Egluntyne]

There seem to be a lot of hens with scruffy underwear at the moment.

 

There has been talk and an article in Practical Poultry I think, about overheating in the roosting area at night being the cause of this.

[The Dogmother]

Crawly critters would have been my first guess, but you've checked for them.

[Clur]

There seem to be a lot of hens with scruffy underwear at the moment.

 

There has been talk and an article in Practical Poultry I think, about overheating in the roosting area at night being the cause of this.

 

 

That's interesting - she insists on sleeping in the nest box too, so wonder if that's not helping.

 

Definitely no creepy crawlies Claret, been over her with a fine tooth comb (metaphorically speaking!). Also, Dilys, the other hen is absolutely fine

[Egluntyne]

There is also anecdotal evidence that some hens are allergic to Aubiose, so maybe the sleeping in the nestbox is the cause.