Prolapsed vent - am I getting it right?

[jimnpaula]

My little Ruby was the smallest and most threadbare of my rescues. All the others are showing signs of re-feathering and moulting is a serious pastime at the moment. Poor little Ruby however has no knicker feathers at all and not much on her breast. She has always had some redness of the skin on her tail - does depluming mite do this? Can it spread to other chooks?

 

She eats well going by the size of her crop and otherwise seems well, I just hope she's going to feather up or I'll have to put one of mum's knitted chicken jumpers on her if the weather gets really cold!

 

Click the pics for a closer look

[abwsco]

Ah, poor love. Some do just seem to take a lot longer than others. Extra protein would help and a lady on another forum who only rescues the very poorly exbatts adds dried organic seaweed to her feed as well. She gets it from Hillside Animal Sanctuary.

[Space Chick]

I have the same issue, Ace and Barbara are feathering up great. Polly is bare all the way from her crop to her vent

 

She is a very happy girl though, and is eating well and enjoying the extra mealworms she is getting for protein.

 

I think it will just take time and some girls will take longer than others

[poachedegg]

We got our 3 ex batts in February, 2 of them have fully feathered up but 1 still isn't. Ironically she was in the best condition when we got her. She still has a bent over comb too - though seems to be healthy and is a cheeky madam!

[dancing cloud]

My 3 little girls were adopted in March and the 2 completely naked ones were fully-feathered in a couple of months, whilst Sky, who had a few feathers, is still bald at the top of her legs and underneath. She seems perfectly healthy and happy (if cheekiness and greediness are any gauge !) and I'm hoping the onset of chilly weather might encourage the feathers to grow a bit quicker.

 

Of my big girls, Daisy and Joy only fully got their knickers this summer, over a year after adoption, and Dandelion is still without feathers on part of her neck. All 6 of them have been out of their cages for 16 months, and have fully developed into very cheeky chooks, so I don't think lack of feathers is anything to be too concerned about as long as Ruby seems healthy and happy otherwise

[jimnpaula]

Thanks for the reassurance folks. I'm trying to hold off on putting a jumper on her to try and stimulate feather growth but when it gets close to zero or snows... I'll post pics

 

P

[Lydia]

Some just take time. A long time. Trilby was rescued in August 2008 and STILL has not managed to grow any fluffy knickers. She is at least finally getting the hang of growing tail feathers but only has 2. She's otherwise very healthy and happy and survived through last winter with the snow without coverage.

 

All the other ex-batts we've rescued all feathered up between 3-6 months.

[speckled hen]

Three of my girls have bald bits and they aren't ex-batts!! They dropped the feathers last November, they have regrown knickers but have bald bottoms they do grow now and then, not sure if someone is plucking them? I have got them all on smallholders ex-batt layers and this has helped quite a bit, otherwise they are laying and very happy so I have stopped worrying about them.