Unsecure chicken perches

[fantasticjudyann]

My 3 Gingernuts are nearly eighteen month sold and have been laying well up till about a month ago. Now it is a bit erratic. Yesterday three eggs , today one and occasionally two. They seem healthy enough. They are eating and drinking OK and I worm them every month.

They have DE in their nest box each week and I spray them with Frontline every three months. They have a large WIR and don't freerange. There are a lot of feathers in the run but they don't look as if they are moulting and I have seen no evidence of feather pecking.

Two of them have a bit of white muck around the vent area but I thought this was just dried wee. Am I making a fuss about nothing or is there a problem here? Any ideas would be very welcome .Thanks

[oneyolktoanother]

what do you worm them with?, we use flubenvet 3 times a year, also with the feather loss have you checked for mites, lice etc

[fantasticjudyann]

I have always used Vermex for worms and last time I looked there were no lice so I guess the Frontline is working. But thanks for the tip- I'll check again.

[kevf1]

sounds like moulting.. my two warrens lost loads of feathers and stopped laying completely for about 2 months

[fantasticjudyann]

Thanks for that. The feather loss has been going on for weeks. Isn't it the wrong time of year for a moult? Having said that , they have not moulted before so this would be the first one so maybe that's why it is odd.

[kevf1]

mine there feather loss went on for about 4 weeks i'd say but even right to they started growing back they kept dropping feathers... mine looked strange but they kept eating looked healthy kept drinking... so i just gave them some extra poutlry spice couple of times a week.. and they eventually started grwoinmg again then laying.. and now are just big feather balls again

[fantasticjudyann]

I thought chickens went bald when moulting. Mine are nowhere near bald but there are still so many feathers.

[kevf1]

they don't go completely bald well mine didn't some lose them from the neck area some from the chest...