[debsiwood]

Hi there, i appear to be having a problem with my chickens. All of them have little or no feathers around their bums. I have examined them and I did find a couple of mites on their wings and have treated them with red mite powder and jet washed the coup, disinfected the whole place and sprinkled the mite powder everywhere. I did this twice about 4 weeks ago so i thought i might see some fethers coming through by now. But there is nothing. Their little bums seem at times very very red, but this seems to be when there is a tasty snack on the go so i think it is just excitement. Someone said it was scorching and that it was a skin problem. I am starting to worry now as they are all still laying but one of them today is just standing around in a fat ball and appears to be off her food (which is unusual for her as she is usually in the front). Does anyone have any ideas as i have only had my girls since November 2011 and a very big novice.
thank you
Deb

[michael85]

Im far from being an expert but one of my five has the exact same issue. It stands to reason that if it was mites or pests it would be affecting all of them   

[debsiwood]

yes i agree. 4 weeks ago i got two more young ones and neither one has lost a feather and are still nice and fluffy.
So because they are ok i assumed the others would start to grow, but NO.
I am stumped and I am worried incase it is something I am doing.
The boss of the flock is a bit of a feather pecker but she is the baldiest of them all so I know it is not that problem.
 

[MuddyHell]

1 of my four also has a baldy bum! I've treated them all for lice with Ivermectin (couldn't see anything), scrubbed the coop, painted it with slaked limewash (what a palaver) and eventually took her to the vet as I wondered if she had depluming mites. Nothing found but an expensive visit nonetheless 
Then I thought it was bullying but couldn't spot the bully, so I isolated Baldy for a day. I sat in the sun and watched her for a morning - and saw she was pulling her own feathers out !! 
That was 5 months ago. she stil has a baldy red bum and what feathers she does have are all caked in anti-peck & purple spray.
Am at a loss. the vet reckons some chickens just do that sometimes, and someone on another forum suggested that it coudl be a warm weather response.

[grinling]

Some chooks just have red baldy bottoms and are fine. You said you put red mite powder on the birds, red mite live in the coop, what you prob saw was lice so you need to get louse powder and put that all over the birds. Mavis didn't have many feathers underneath and was red and she lived to be 6.

[Robbo]

can I come in on this as 2 of my 4 girls are the same, tried everything we have read about but still no knickers yet, just purple btm s, we thought it was bullying but have seen her pulling her own feathers out , could it be boredom do you think , we have had nearly an egg a day from them all in the 16 months we have had them, and otherwise they are lively and healthy good eaters etc.The only one who has total feather is the largest girl a bluebell, intersted to see how they all do ?

[debsiwood]

Thanks everyone. I am relieved to see i am not the only one with this problem.

my girls are healthy too. I had a bit of an episode with one yesterday. A nurse wrapped in a towel on my knee in front of the telly whilst being fed yogurt off a spoon brought her back to health.

I must admit i did think someone is eating the feathers as i haven't seen any around. But i have witnessed them all taking off across the garden chasing feathers in the wind and then gulping them down

Thanks to grinling, i will go and get louse powder tomorrow.
It can't hurt.
I did read that red mites lived in the coop too. So maybe i shouldn't have put it on them. They don't seem to be harmed thank goodness.

Thanks again everyone... 

[Raven81]

I don't know if they are all the same but the red mite powder we use is designed to be used both on the birds and in the coop.  It shouldn't have done them any harm. 

When using powder in the coop try to do it as early in the day as possible so they don't breathe it in all night (remember birds don't cough), and move food and water away from the area being treated.

Ours have have been going through a very long moult and it seems to have taken forever for the feathers to start growing back.

[devonbarmygardener]

My Anastasia is completely bald but for a few tail feathers! Has been since we got the chooks in April.
She seemed the bossiest hen on the first day but then everyone started pecking her. She stands up for herself now but the damage is done and her skin looks quite old and wrinkly now (even though shes only 6 months old or so).
I've sprayed her with an anti-bacterial pecking spray from time to time (like this morning) if her skin looks like its been pecked again but she doesn't seem remotely bothered by it.

She's just a very scruffy bird now.
And Gertie is the grumpy evil henpecker