Hen losing weight and possibly picking feathers

[FunnyBunny89]

Hi all,

I have a hen who has all the normal spunk and energy in the world. She's just finishing a molt and has been laying off and on, as recently as yesterday. Her appetite is good too, she fills her crop every evening before bed. However, I'm worried because she is definitely on the slim side and has been looking a little rough for a while now.

I've been inspecting poops and hers have been normal, her coloring is good too.

The only other issue is that on her front, she has a bald spot on her neck that had molted and was growing back, but then didn't grow back and appeared to be pecked at and the new feathers were gone. Now they appear to be growing in again, slowly but surely.

Is there something I should use to deworm my chickens? I have two other girls with poopy butts but that's it. I live in Northern California so my options might differ from others. I will try to get a pic if people think it's necessary. Here's an old picture of her, she actually placed in a photo contest on this website a while ago. Now she looks ragged and it makes me sad.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

 

[Chicken_Obsesser]

Could she be going broody? Broody birds will pluck out a portion of their chest feathers to make a broody patch which they place on the eggs.

 

[FunnyBunny89]

Could she be going broody? Broody birds will pluck out a portion of their chest feathers to make a broody patch which they place on the eggs.

No, none of my girls are broody. I should also add that I haven't seen any mites or lice. They had lice two months ago now but I treated them and cleaned the coop and it hasn't been an issue since.

 

[FunnyBunny89]

I got some pics of her earlier today. Can you see how rough she looks? I'm going to put ACV in her water and give her a dose of equimax and see if she perks up at all. I am treating tapeworm in another hen now, so I think I'll treat her too and see if that helps.

EDIT: oh, the other possibility is coccidiosis. I have had to treat for it in the past. Should I do that first?

 

[Perris]

Random prophylactic meds will wreck her digestive system. I suggest you stop treating her with meds and give her some meat or fish - some proper food, with plenty of protein to rebuild her tissues and feathers (if she is actually still growing them), and some plain natural live yogurt to help restore her microbiome.

Feathers usually last for a year, so if she has finished a moult she will look like that until her next moult. That is why it is so important for them to have a good, varied, nutritious diet when moulting.

 

[FunnyBunny89]

Random prophylactic meds will wreck her digestive system. I suggest you stop treating her with meds and give her some meat or fish - some proper food, with plenty of protein to rebuild her tissues and feathers (if she is actually still growing them), and some plain natural live yogurt to help restore her microbiome.

Feathers usually last for a year, so if she has finished a moult she will look like that until her next moult. That is why it is so important for them to have a good, varied, nutritious diet when moulting.

I haven't given her any meds yet. As of today, I'm now noticing the others feathers looking rough and I think I need to switch their feed. I can only find organic layer feed in the area, not all flock, so I switched them about a month ago and I supplement with protein treats but it looks like it's not enough. I'm going to go back to the all flock.

 

[FunnyBunny89]

Random prophylactic meds will wreck her digestive system. I suggest you stop treating her with meds and give her some meat or fish - some proper food, with plenty of protein to rebuild her tissues and feathers (if she is actually still growing them), and some plain natural live yogurt to help restore her microbiome.

Feathers usually last for a year, so if she has finished a moult she will look like that until her next moult. That is why it is so important for them to have a good, varied, nutritious diet when moulting.

For some clarity, I have been giving them meat and eggs and oats as a daily treat since I put them on layer feed but Idk how to measure whether they get enough from that. So if you think it's diet, and I'm starting to see that it's probably their feed, I'm going to go back to the 20% protein feed and just let them eat oyster shells for calcium. I have been trying to find organic all flock feed but apparently, nobody makes it.

My girls also free range, so I assumed they were getting bugs and varied plants but the rain disappeared a month ago and everything is drying out, so maybe they aren't.

 

[FunnyBunny89]

Update:
She has some new feathers coming in on her bald spot!! Yay! But there is still some bald skin that is smooth. Ah well. All my hens are looking better now; they've been on the 20% protein feed for a few days and I'm treating them for coccidiosis because two of my hens had very persistent poopy butts and after 3 days, it seems to be helping. After 2 more days, I'll give them hen boost to make up for it and then just make sure they have proper protein amounts from here on out.