[Silkychicks]

About 8 months ago I bought Adje, a little silky hen.
I went to a breeder, he showed me Adje and not really knowing what to look for I checked the obvious: feet, beak, eyes, sort of comb and feathers.
Not seeing something that raised questions: she she became my Ad.     

Know I am treating her for bumblefoot and for the first time I am able to have a good look at her! (and she looks back  ) She is not very tame (not scared though), picking her up has been a no go, and because it wasn't nesscesary I didn't see the need of putting her through stress.

What I saw is: she is as good as featherless on het 'bottom side'!! Hardly any feathers between her legs and no feathers on her crop.. The crop is covered with the feathers that grow above.
What I found the most surprising: the skin doesn't look like there ever has been feather growth. The skin is really thin, on some places wrinkly and so soft..

I do worry a little about wintertime 

[Springlands]

Silkychicks - first of all have you checked to ensure that she does not have any mites or other bugs on her - if so you will have to treat her and where she lives for the bugs. If she does have mites or bugs it is likely that any other hens that you have would also be infested. You would have to find out what treatment is available in the Netherlands as I would not be familiar with what is available there.

You say that you got her about 8 months ago - so it is possible that she is going through her winter moult - lots of my chickens are rather bare round the back end at present. It always amuses me that they lose the feathers just when we are coming into the coldest time of year. But it is amazing how quickly they feather up again and as long as their sleeping area is draught free it does not seem to do them any harm.

Some people use supplements during the moult just to help the hens but again I would not know what you have available in the Netherlands - you could possible ask for advice from the breeder.

Hope this helps.

[Silkychicks]

Hello Springlands,

thank you for your reply.
She had some trouble lately: she stopped laying and I found out she has bumblefoot. I did check her skin and feathers for mites but didn't find anything crawling around..

I think she is moulding: she has lots of new feathers in her nek; the timing of this did surprise me  It can get so cold! She did always have a very sheltered life with the breeder. I thought maybe that's the reason.
The strange thing is: the skin I was talking about doesn't look like there have ever been feathers.. that's why I was so surprised. I allways thought chickens had feathers ... everywhere!

Could it be her age? I don't know how old she is: the breeder told me she was 4 or 5 months old but observing her and her companion over last summer made me come to the conclusion she was defenitely mature when I got her, but how mature; no idea.

Medication is not as common here as in the UK. You go to the vet for a lot of things. It is not so common to have chickens as a hobby so rules and regulations are a little different.
My vet is a ..farm animal vet who does dog and cats as well, not the other way around. His wife's speciality is poultry so I am lucky with that.

To make sure I will check again for mites.

[Springlands]

Most chickens are mature enough at about 22 / 24 months to lay eggs usually referred to as 'point of lay' so the age your breeder quoted is probably right as they would look quite mature. I got four new POL hens this year and two of them are really moulting - the hen house is full of feathers each morning.

The other thing is that most hens stop laying during the winter, especially when they are moulting then as the days start to get longer they will start to lay again. You might get the occasional egg but that is a bonus.

I hope that you get the bumble foot sorted soon - I have been lucky so far, we have 11 hens and 2 ducks and they have been very healthy so far.

One last thing - you said about it being very cold. Remember to check the hens water during the day during very cold  weather just in case it freezes.

[Silkychicks]

Do you mean 22 / 24 weeks?
Yes she would have passed that age: the breeder said he was allready breeding with her and he had a lot of little black chookies    about 20! (Ad is black as well; she was the only hen sharing the 'pen' with a cockerel).
The difference between her and Truus was so big: Truus really kept developping until a good month ago. He's about 10 months now. Ad didn't change a bit and she would be max 2 moths older than Truus.
I can imagine though hens mature faster then cockerels.

She has started laying again: she had a 12 day break and now she lays an egg every 2 days: it seems she is feeling better and I am lucky 
When she started not being well I started a topic in the hen house about limping and stopping with laying: Her progress is posted there.

My Neighbour and I will take turns in checking the water: mostly one of us is at home enough during the day to keep an eye and we share the garden so he only needs to walk out the back of his house. But thank you for the advise.

11 hens and 2 ducks  that sounds cosy! Do you have the 'walking ducks' (the ones that are really slim and upright) sharing space with your hens?

[Springlands]

Pleased to hear your hen is feeling better. Hens come in different sizes - some of mine are much bigger than others so size is not always an indicator of age. Lucky you getting some eggs again - enjoy them - shop bought can never match the taste.

I do not know what breed our ducks are - they were given to us by a friend who just said they were hybrids - they are pure white and quite dumpy. They look so funny when they waddle around the run. The hens and ducks share the run which is really big but have separate houses to sleep in. They are all quite friendly - some people find that ducks and hens do not mix but we have never had any problems.

[Silkychicks]

Sorry for my late reply, I wasn't using the internet al lot lately..

That sounds nice  I like the look of ducks. Once I stayed at a farm for camping: there was this beautifull white duck (she was found and raised in tub!) and she was very much in love with their big male turkey: she kept trying te seduce him 
The male turkey responded by being very majestic...

Maybe some breeds are more tolorant to other breeds. As long as there are no problems it is great when they can live together I think.

You where right about the moulding: she is starting to develop new feathers everywhere! So soon she won't look that scruffy anymore.
Yesterday I took her to the vet for her bumblefoot and asked for her age. The vet said she must be over a year because the first winter after ... hatching? (comming out of the egg) they don't mould. She couldn't say what her age really is, so we'll see: she seems to have diffelculties laying sometimes but as long as I can help her with a bath it is fine I think. Most important is she is happy.