Chicken boarders

[BocBoc]

Kwak our Blue Australorp bantam has always had a few feathers missing from her back end - the bits underneath where her wingtips end when they are folded in. Her vent and the feathers going down and round to her breast area seem ok. You can see her skin in these areas when she's wandering about - sometimes it's a peachy orange colour and sometimes it's quite an angry-looking red. Over the last week or so she's lost most of the feathers in this area and her skin is really red. She hates being picked up and flaps like mad but I managed to pick her up before dark last night to have a good look. The feathers are completely gone on both sides in this area, I can't see any creatures but her skin is red raw. She is still laying (I think the eggs are hers), she's eating and drinking and doing everything else fine. She sleeps on plastic roosting bars in the Eglu which we keep as free from poo as possible. The Eglu gets a good scrub weekly with a mid week clear out inbetween.

None of the other birds are affected.

Any idea what it could be / how to treat it? She doesn't like Sudocrem!!

Thanks very much

[BocBoc]

Just an update - Anna has lost some feathers over the weekend and is red around the feather "root". Have cleaned out the Eglu this afternoon and we have red mite.

[Egluntyne]

Oh, bad luck.