Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[moosealot]

Hoping someone can help ...

 

Barbara (Black Rock) has rapidly lost all her feathers from her tummy round and under her bottom - I noticed she was thinning and took her to the vet who discounted lice or mites, but said her diet is deficient!

 

The team - of three - eat bio pellets and grain, but turn their beaks up at anything else apart from apples. They are now on a tonic and like picky toddlers they are now on a new food daily, but spinach, rice, bread and lettuce have had no success at all, and only limited pecking at grapes.

 

Has anyone had the same feather loss problem? or diet problem??

 

Help!

 

Jo

[Henslaved]

This thread may help or put your mind at ease.

 

Bald chest

[quickcluck]

I had this problem a while ago... it's very frustrating. The vet put it down to us putting lime on ground as the skin was quite red. We then had a massive discussion on her regarding a depluming mite and treated them with flowers of sulphur.

 

In the end as some were having a massive moult we gave the nettex moulting stuff in the water and we have very fluffy chickens

[snowcloud]

I would have thought it is just moulting - ours seem to choose the worse possible point of the year to moult, usually just as it starts to snow or when bad frosts kick off, it's so strange .

More than likely they will be a bit miserable for a couple of weeks as they loose the feathers, and it can be quite painful for them as the new quills break through the skin, but then as the feathers develop, they get happier and back to normal. We just let them get on with it and make sure they are eating/drinking enough (as the others have a tendancy to bully moulting chickens a bit ).

Good luck...

[quickcluck]

Always a good idea during a moult to give them extra protein as it helps with the feather regrowth

[moosealot]

Thank you for your replies - she is such a character and I feel awful that she has no feathers just as the temperature has plummeted to -4 and no doubt snow is on the way.

 

Will try and get some mealworms or vers de farine to beef up their diet!

 

Jo