Calling Joce

[vicky whitworth]

Are you out there, Joce? I need your advice. Little Hen isn't right. She's been hen pecked for some time with a bald neck, then she got a bald belly and she was like that for ages (months). But in the last six weeks she started laying soft shelled eggs, now I think she's stopped laying, she's quiet but not really poorly, and now armloads of feathers are coming out and you can see quills. She looks dreadful and isn't eating much, but I'd thought if she was going to pop her clogs she'd have got on and done it by now. She spends a lot of time in her run - when she could come out into the garden. We dusted her and Big Bird last weekend with anti-mite stuff and thoroughly disinfected the hen house.
Any bright ideas? Thank you. Vicky

 

[JoceAndChris]

Hello Vicky! How lovely to be asked for, but your poor poor little hen. It sounds like there could be several things going on with her. Is she 2? In their first year they don't moult all that much, but the second year the annual late summer moult seems very bad; I've had hens nearly bald all over at this time of the year. They get so low and depressed as they hate not having their feathers and they also need extra protein to grow them all back again. I'd really beef up their diet with things like mealworms, beef cat food and sunflower seeds, even break a cod liver oil capsule into the feed every day. I'd also put a splash of poultry tonic into the water every day, to get her through this. What colour is her comb? Pale red? If so she might be anaemic, have you checked for red mite under the perches? An occasional dusting with anti mite powder will not be sufficient against red mite, the Silent Killer. These creatures must be more responsible for chicken deaths than anything else, they just slowly sap the life of the bird over several months, and they're almost invisible to the human eye until you're trained to see them. Take a white hankie at night-time and wipe it everywhere near where they sleep - if red streaks appear that's red mite who've feasted on your poor hens. I spray every week against them.

http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/Battles_Poultry_Drink.html
http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/Net-Tex_Total_Mite_Kill.html

Soft shelled eggs are to be expected in young hens coming into lay, and indeed can just be a sign of stress in a hen of any age- which she clearly is feeling with the bullying and the terrible moult.
http://wiki.omlet.co.uk/index.php?title=Soft_Shelled_Eggs

As for the bullying, this is much harder to comment on without seeing your set up and the hens. They have a mean streak towards the weak hen and will ostracise and even kill it if they decide it's on its last legs. I've taken them to the vet to be euthanased at that point (but I'm fairly certain those bantams had Mareks, and I'm not suggesting this for your little hen). This means that when chickens feel really awful they don't run with the others as they aren't welcome. Is that going on? Generally speaking as soon as the pecking starts it's a really good idea to apply the anti pecking spray every day to the affected part to break them of the habit.

http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/Stop-Peck-Anti-Pecking-Spray.html

I'd try to make sure your little hen gets something proteiny every day as well as her feed and keep a close eye. If she worsens she may need isolation and veterinary treatment. It could be something underlying going on - I'm afraid they can have very long, lingering and upsetting illnesses over several months that end in you having to put them out of their misery. Let's hope she's just under the weather and picks up once the feathers grow in.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Forgot to mention worms which need watching out for. The symptoms are thinness ( pronounced breastbone) and constant runny poo, loss of appetite, mooching alone and wasting away.

I battle worms by not allowing poo build up (by mowing with a ride on that collects the droppings and grass and supplementing with daily poo picking on hard areas) which means I tend to be a bit lazy with Flubenvet but they do get done in summer months.

Good page on worms - great site in fact.

http://keeping-chickens.me.uk/routine-jobs/worming-chickens

 

[vicky whitworth]

Thank you so much for the detailed advice. I think worms might be a possibility now you describe it. We will treat her. How can two chickens be so much trouble :roll: