Is my pekin bantam male or female?

[nikkichick]

One of my girls (1 of 3) seems to be being pecked by we think one of the others. the pecking order was established some time ago and they get on well, over the last 2 weeks we've noticed thinning of the tail feathers and then today, a totally bear bottom in a strip of about 2 1/2 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide.

 

She is missing lots of feathers from where her tail joins her body as well. We've tried purple spray to deter the pecking for now but i'm doubtful it's working.

 

I've just bought the nettex anti pek spray in a hope that this will put an and to it.

 

Could it be mites? (the other 2 arent affected) bullying? bordom? self harm?

we think she's still laying so seems fairly perky, if not a little chilly on the bum!!!

 

Anyone have any suggestions about why or how to stop it or anything?????

[Pearls007]

It looks like a reverse Brazillian to me. Sorry - couldn't resist

[]Fiona[]

I had a similar issue - went round the houses with sprays, diet, boredom busters etc etc - don't waste your money. Looks like feather pecking - If you think you've identified the chook doing the damage, fit a bumper bit.

[nikkichick]

Thanks,

 

There's no feathers is the only odd thing, and i know bullying normally takes place on heads and combs!

 

today i put some mite powder in the coop, gave it a good power hose 1st!

 

Also put some mite powder on the girls. Will try anti pek spray and hope that it works!!

 

Any other suggestions most welcome!!!

[Henslaved]

I think you need to spy on your girls to find out exactly what's going on.

 

If there are no feathers then I would be suspicious of someone eating them perhaps .

[Fur 'n' Feathers]

We've been dealing with the same thing despite ours being together for a year. Our hens were moulting earlier in the year and Koukoua was found to be the culprit: she couldn't resist the bare areas and started eating the feathers and pulling out more. We tried sprays, extra mineral supplements (can be a deficiency they're trying to make up) etc. Ended up separating her off for a fortnight. When she was returned she went down the pecking order for a few days than started again. To make it worse, Kokkino started to do the same back (just looking under at her behind and pulling the feathers with a short tug! Very specific).

 

We separated Koukoula off and she's been in the sin bin for the past 2 weeks (eglu & run for the uninitiated) whilst watching the others free range and live together in the cube. We won't be putting her back in till all feathers have regrown on the other 3. Unfortunately this looks like it will be a lengthy affair as the bums are just tufty and bare at present. We don't want any bare skin to be an enticement. It means we won't be doing intros planned in June till later in the summer but we think it's the only way .... pure behaviour modification.

 

 

Does this help?

[nikkichick]

ok, so a second girl has gone down with a bald bum.

 

I've mited them all and given the coop a proper scrub and powder.

 

That only leaves 1 girl as the suspect. We don't have a spare run so i'm a little unsure of what to do, it's very frustrating!!!

 

Waiting on the anti pek and hoping it works, might invest in some more boredom busters if anyone has sugesstions, as a distraction.

 

I've also got purple fingers from putting purple spray on them so the skin is a different colour!!

[Eggasperated]

I have five girls four of which have bums in various states of baldness - guess who's pulling feathers . Unfortunately Carol (of the perfect bum) has worked out how to pull feathers with her bumper bit on; Ukadex spray does stop pecking for a while but I found I needed to spray three times a week to keep on top of it and it seems to distress the girls more than the feather pulling.

Tried the sin bin but that didn't work either. At the moment I'm leaving them to it although I'm not very happy about the way they look, especially as Alice retaliates by pulling feathers from Carols neck.

They free range all day within a 50m electric fence enclosure, have several covered areas with perches, a hedge to dig under, and Garvo layers pellets to eat plus occasional treats.

So what's their excuse? Just being chickens I suppose .

[Henchanted]

Thats so re-assuring for me to hear !

 

Thanks for posting your "bald bum" experiences as I've been blaming myself for Zelda's bald undercarriage.

 

It coincided with me powdering all the girls with DE a few times a week for a couple of weeks, to get on top of the mites they came with, and to my horror one I noticed that Zelda had a bald patch were I puffed quite a lot in that area, 2 others (Curryssa and Molly) have bare patches on their neck/head areas, again where I think I left an excess of DE and the gorgeous Saffie seems to be unaffected as I puffed over her back and she shook it off, or I now know there might be another reason. Hmmmm !

[Mollie333]

Maybe this will help...

**Click**

[Stedic]

Our three ex-batts have had a similar problem since we got them.

 

I also tried Ukadex and trying to see who was feather pulling. They were de-loused, de-mited and everything cleaned constantly but nothing would fix it. Until they moulted. It cleared up over about a 3 days period. The only one who hasn't recovered didn't moult either.

 

Are your girls ex-batts? We had concluded that it might be something to do with the cages causing sore patches.

 

Or, the alternative diagnosis, is that someone stopped eating feathers.

[Dangri]

One of my girls underbelly looks like a Waitrose bought chicken bless her, she's been like this since before Xmas. Vet told me it's becuase she's sitting in the nest (which is where her feathers used to be found) of the evening and not getting enough air circulating under there... she's perfectly happy, my other chicken is perfectly happy, they're both still laying eggs and I've not had any issues with them, so appart from making sure she doesn't sleep on the nest (which is a pain in the whatsit), I'm just leaving them to it... Is that wrong?

[nikkichick]

Thanks for you resonses guys and gals!

 

Problems have seems to stop at the mo, and some feathers are growing back.

 

I've powerded, wormed, sprays and put new anti bored things in!

My girls wern't ex batts so it's still a mystery as to the why!!

 

We are aboutr to change tham on to new food over the next week so sopefully thatw ill sort any lack in diet!!

 

Cheers Chicks!!

[poppers77]

Good to know we are not the only ones with knickerless girls! We have had a problem since the snow at Xmas when flo (the only one fully feathered ) cleanly plucked the neck of Gwinnie our smallest. She has looked like a transalvanion naked neck since then. Then the bottoms started going bare, so poor gwinnie has been topped & tailed! I've fitted a bumper bit, deloused, scrubbed, assessed their diet to no avail. In fact I've decided that spraying them with genetian/ anti feather peck doens't work & is too stressfull! So I've resorted to calling an expert - and Anna is coming tonight to give them a full MOT ( one is also laying shelless eggs). I'll let you know if their is anything new suggested?

Who knew that keeping such lovely ladies could present such behavoural issues!!