[christianj04]

good morning

i have two 12 month old brown maran hens that i bought about a week ago from a farm that was miss treating them and starving them of food and water, i just had to buy them. they now are being fed on layers pellets mixed with a bit of bird egg food and some grit, and they get veg as well. one of them is fine and is bonding very well with me but the other i noticed had a red rash on her bottom and on her chest and is plucking at her feathers were this rash is. i have no idea what it is and if anyone could help me please as i am getting serverely worried. how do you cure this and what is causing it. i can assure you that they have a clean coop so hygine isnt an issue i would think. please please please help me please.  
also they havent layed one egg yet. is this normal?

[spud]

Hi There,

If they are being well looked after now they should have no worries. I believe they are probably starting to moult...and the feathers are probably annoying them as they come loose so they pull them out...I have several doing this at the moment!

Best Regards,

 

[christianj04]

thank you for your reply. but there is no new feathers coming through and it seems to irritate her. they have not layed a single egg yet. is this normal or is there something i should be doing? please reply    

[Tensing]

Have you treated them for lice and mites, maybe she has some bugs bitting her. A good powder and this should make her feel a lot beeter, also make sure they have access to a duct bath (I put an organic louse powder in here also).

Also she maybe bored, try hanging the greens up for her making it a little more interesting, do they have somewhere to scrtch for food, mine love digging and looking for bugs and seeds.

I'm sure as Spud said it is probably just the moult, but a good powdering wouldn't hurt.

[becky]

Hi there. Sounds like your chooks are moulting, in which case they wont lay eggs, as all their energy will be put towards growing some lovely new feathers! I have 6 chooks, all of which are moulting at the mo', I am affraid it is just that time of year. Is the other chook plucking the feathers from the poorly one? Probably bored, or sorting out a rank structure between the pair of them. Could the other chook be plucking new feathers from the poorly one, sometimes they will do this because they are a tasty treat! Bizaar, I know.
 What bedding is in the coop, that could be something irritating the poorly chook, i would just put newspaper in, as there is no dust from that to irritate. Also, poorly chook could just be a little stressed, if they were mis-treated, then I expect they will both need a while to recover from that.
Hope my waffle is of some help!

[christianj04]

thank you for your responce. no the other hen is not sheddind i dont think cause i cant see any patches on her. there is new feathers coming through on the poorly one but the red rash is still there while the feathers are coming through. i have put wood shaving down, could that be the irritation? i originally had paper down but i thought this might not be comfy for there feet. someone suggested cat litter? could this be used? can they get colds? what can i do to insure they are kept at a reasonable temperature? thank you for your responce. pleaseplease please reply.