[melc1962]

I collected an egg today which had blood on it and when I inspected the girls' rear ends I discovered that Florrie's is all plucked and sore-looking. I Verm-ex them every month so am wondering if anybody has an idea about what the problem could be. The other three have all their feathers in that area so presumably are not suffering the same thing. There didn't appear to be any sign of prolapse and it didn't seem as though the others were pecking her. Help!
melc

[poultrygeist]

Hi melc.

I would say almost certainly she's being plucked by one or more of the others but you could check her for mites. If you see anything crawling at teh base of the feathers around her rear end or under her wings or anything that looks like eggs.
But it does sound like vent pecking and feather eating.
If you can separate her physically from teh others, preferably still withing view. Then spray her liberally with purple spray or tea tree cream on the wounds.
They find red an attractive colour to peck at and the purple is meant to put them off. In my experience, it doesn't work too well but she needs to have a chance to heal and get some rest from it.
If you see any mites on her, she'll need some mite powder or spray.

Rob

[melc1962]

Would diatom work as mite powder if I find anything on her? I will check first thing tomorrow and, as it's Sunday, is there anything else I could use other than tea tree cream or the purple stuff? Vaseline, E45 etc? Thanks for helping.

melc

[poultrygeist]

Germolene or savlon have been mentioned as ok. I've used germolene on a duckling's foot but never on the chickens. Should be ok if you have something soothing as far as I know.
Diatom is apparently good but have never used it. I don't know how effective it is on the birds but hopefully someone else can advise.

Rob

[melc1962]

Got hold of Florrie today and when I picked her up for treatment she did a huge watery poo all over my jeans! I threw some Diatom all over her rear feathers (my daughter thought she saw some black spots (mites/eggs?)) and applied some savlon as best I could on the sore plucked skin.Tricky though - my, did she wriggle! No bleeding today so far and she has been kept separate from the others so fingers crossed. How long does it take for the feathers to grow back? I'm working tomorrow so won't be able to keep her separate without leaving her vulnerable to Mr Fox - just hoping the next application, this time of germolene, will put the others off.