[Mega]

Good mprning all 

I am at a loss as to what may be wrong with one of our hens. She is a gold laced orpington bantam and lives quite happily with 2 others.  They are only young, only one has started laying at the moment - the 2 gold laced are not there yet !

She is scratching her neck and 'over preening'.  For what I can see ther is no bullying occuring but she now has a very sore bald neck which we are putting purple antiseptic spary on as she does draw blood 
We have cleaned the house & diatom powdered it asfresh, we have done their flubivent, they have cider vinegar and I just don't know when she will stop 
She is quite happy still, eating & drinking & foraging well but I have not found anything on net that is the same 'problem' other than that they can lose feathers through bullying or moult & neither of these are happening.
 We are new to keeping them - only got them in November & have had 2 casualities  One was within 2 weeks and we found her dead in the coop ne morning - with no injury signs & the other we took to vets who said possible Maereks disese but the others are fine still one month on except for the feather plucking  any ideas or advice more than welcome please 

[ANHBUC]

Hi Mega, best to check for lice if she is pulling her own neck feathers. 

How old are they and what are you feeding them? 

Is she eating the feathers or just plucking them out?

[Mega]

Well I can't seem to find anything & like I say even tho these things are in place normally I have stripped & cleaned & re-treated all I can   
They are around 36 - 40 weeks now.
Not sure if eating feathers - there are more in coop than before but can't say i have seen her eat them - she just preens & scrathes - her neck looks awful to the point I am saying Vet ?

They have layer pellets by Saracen and a couple of handfuls of mixed corn each day. They have water with cider vinegar in. If its very cold they get porridge made up with water first thing and they may get something like a bolted cabbage or such like from the allotment.

She even holds her neck out to the others as if to say oh go on peck it for me 

[ANHBUC]

She may be having a partial moult and is aggravated by the new quills coming through.  Have a look to see if you can see any new growth.

Best not to give them anything but pellets until late afternoon.  Same with the porridge, you can make a pellet porridge by adding boiled water and allowing it to cool.  That way they are getting the nutriants they need.  Might be best to cut out all treats until things settle down, corn is like giving kids sweets so only a small amount is best if any at all.

Someone mentioned earmites on here but I don't know anything about them so you will have to do a bit of research incase that is the problem.

Good luck.   

[Mega]

Ok Thank you will stop the treats and just leave them with their pellets for a week or so and see how goes 

Have just gone and checked her over and  I can see nothing at all !  Have dusted her in diatom and put more in the dust area - did the nest boxes and coop this morning.

Roll on spring & warmer longer days so I can scrub it evey week !!!!

[grinling]

Are you sure of their ages? My bantam doesn't tend to moult unlike my full size hybrid, which went nearly bald.
Check all your birds for lice, small yellow insects about 2-4 mm long. Put bird on lap on side and check under wings and around nent and tummy and then on neck. They might be better dusted all over with powder as they might not all dustbath.

[Mega]

Have checked her over again today nothing on her at all    Sat and watched for about an hour and the buff orpy had a couple of pecks at her but not viciously.
I have srayed her with the anti peck spray again & the antisceptic one and re-dusted her.
Will just have to see how she gets on. :blink:

Will she get new feathers this year or will I need to knit a snood 

[grinling]

If the other hen is pulling the feathers out get some beak clips, others on here use them to great effect. Her feathers will grow back.

[Sassy]

I don't feed cider vinegar but I think those that do do not feed all the time but have a break from it. You could search on here to get more info

[Mega]

Thank you   

Will investigate the beak clip thingys too - anything is worth a try 

Tend to do cider vinegar every 4th week ( so once a month) they just finished today with that so be back on the pure stuff now.