Sooo much pooping

[flowerangelk8x]

Hi

 

Both my girls have got really bald breast bones with an oval patch of bald skin each side. One looks quite sore, with a pinkish bit along the bone?????Almost as if they have been rubbing their breast bone along something...???But it doesn't seem to bother them at all???? No Mites??

 

Even though we have had the girls for over a year this is the first time we have noticed anything like this.

Apart from this they are both in very good health and condition and lying every day.

 

They are kept on Amboise in their run and let out to free range for hours most days. I am at home with them most of the time and never see them pecking at themselves? or each other.

The only time I can't see them is over night when they are in their Eglu?

 

If anyone can throw any light on this I’d be really grateful....it’s a puzzle?

 

Many thanks

 

K8x Gretchen and Betty

[TAJ]

Is their run clean and dry with the bad weather we had? If they sit on wet poo they can get sore patches from the acidity. I would mite powder as a precaution anyway and make sure they are not sitting (garden or run) on damp or soiled ground.

 

Tracy

[Henhathnofury]

If you have had them for a year - it could be the beginning of a moult, which happens around a year old or so. But you should check them over for any creepy-crawlies such as lice. Some chickens do a mini-moult and some become very bald. My Speckled Sussex began with her breastbone feathers....

 

You may find that they will stop laying while moulting. Give them chicken spice if you have any (available at Omlet and other places) and some extra protein.....

[cluckynikki]

One of mine, Tilly, has exactly the same. It looks a bit pinkish on her breast area, but not angry red as though she or the other hen has plucked the feathers out.

 

Both mine, which we will soon have had for a year, are losing feathers from their knickers at the moment too. I just assumed it was a bit of moult, but I will put down extra red dust mite powder and keep their roosting bars extra clean for when they spend the night settled down on them.

 

My other hen, Coffee, started with a mini moult around her neck in the late autumn, so I think she's just taking it long and slow. As you say, mine are both healthy and laying too.

 

Try not to worry about it and just keep an eye on it. I know I automatically assumed the worst when Coffee started losing her neck feathers (even ordered bumper bits) but the helpful friendly advice from members of this forum was that it was likely to be a moult ... and it was.

[whoopsie]

Thankyou! I have recently noticed that Barbara's looking a bit scraggy, though she's still laying fine and I can't see any creepies. I shall get some poultry spice for her and Margot.