Missing feathers and messy bottoms.

[MAT10]

Can't figure out what's wrong. 1st thoughts was a bully, then to boredom but when the messy bottoms showed up my next thought was mites/lice. Nothing visible & have now noticed feather loss on underbelly of 2 hens. Dusting with
permethrin & have bathed 2/10 hens. Hope to follow up with more baths in a couple days (weather too cold now). Missing feathers are mainly on the neck areas. Egg production has decreased & finding broken/weak shells. Tried calcium supplement as recommended on another thread but no change yet.

Would MannaPro- Poultry Protector be a better solution???

 

[Debbie292d]

Usually feather pecking comes from two reasons:

1. Too crowded, so boredom.
2. Lack of protein.

Feather loss on the underbelly of hens usually means they are broody and could account for egg reduction.

There can be others causes though, so if it's mites, the Permethrin powder is what I'd use but you have to do every chicken and the coop. For the chickens, I saw someone had a good idea to put the powder in a large sock and softly beat that all over their chicken. I don't know if that works or dispenses enough though.

You'd need to stay on top of this and redo it again in 10 days as the mites lay eggs that will hatch days later.

If your hens are stressed from being pecked, bored, or from mites, all those can cut down on egg production.

What I would do if I were you is feed them an all-flock type feed, then always have a separate dish with oyster shell in it as hens that need it will eat it. This will be a higher protein, less calcium feed that should help their feathers and may help if there's a feather-picking problem.

I think you've got this!!