[flowerpot]

I'm a novice and I think my lack of knowledge is causing suffering to my girls. I've had them since October and they were all in perfect health till the Easter holidays. I then took my eye of the ball for a while (my father died recently). I rushed their care a bit and took less notice of them. About a week ago I noticed that 5 of them had a lot of feathers missing around their bottoms (the 6th hen just thinning out) and one of them some missing on the breast. Skin doesn't look broken. I found one red mite in the house, I expect more were hiding, so thoroughly scrubbed the house and sprayed everywhere including all cracks with poultry shield. I've not really got used to handling them, but managed to get some Diatom on top of them, Smite powder in the run. i repeated this all 7 days later. One chicken has started to look very thin, I've been using Verm x for worming.  They are all eating/drinking/laying well. But the feather problem is getting worse and they are not as friendly as they were - probably feeling very uncomfortable I wouldn't  be as friendly!  I have decided to do a day course to help me get used to handling them properly, meanwhile thinking of going to vet incase I'm missing something. Any ideas?  Will the feathers grow back when they recover or after the moult?

[Casey76]

Hi.  Don't stress to much about it.  You've obviously had a lot on your mind.

First thing when it comes to handling chickens is that you have to exude the air of confidence (even if you don't feel it!).  Handle the birds deftly and firmly.  They will struggle less than if you are trying to be too gentle with them (obviously I'm not saying strangle them or squeeze them to death or anything!).

Some birds are naturally more stand-offish than others, so it could just be their personalities about not being overly friendly.

You really need to get hold of at least one hen to check their bums over - though if you can look at them all it would be better.  If they curtsey for you all the better, but if not the principle is just the same.  I catch hold of mine from the top, using both hands to secure their wings so they don't flap.  Bring the bird close to your body and manoeuver one arm so it is underneath the hen, with the hen's head pointing to your elbow.  This way, the hand that is underneath the hen can secure the legs, 1 leg between the index and middle finger, and one leg between your little and ring fingers.  The hen should now be pretty much secured, and as she is laying on your forearm with her body supported she shouldn't struggle (or too much - but these are hens, so you never know... at any rate she shold be secure!)

You can now quite safely tip her up (heand toward the ground) so you can have a good look at her vent.  Have a furtle amongst her feathers to see if she has lice, any broken or inflamed looking skin, to see if she has any poo in her knickers etc.  You should also be able to see how many feathers are missing.

At this point you will be able to treat accordingly.

I would recommend that you give them a chemical wormer at least once a year, rather than just verm-x, as while verm-x can help keep a worm burden down by inducing an inhospitable environment for the worms, it doesn't actually kill them like a chemical wormer would.

The feather should grow back just fine after the hens normal moult, but she will probably look a bit thread bare til then.

[joyfull]

Get hold of some Flubenvet to worm your girls, Verm X is really just a preventative and doesn't work on all girls. Some people use Johnsons mite and louse treatment and others use Frontline spray which is obtainable from the vets for any mites and lice. Keep up the poultry shield treatment weekly until you are sure the red mite have all gone and keep changing their beding weekly as well. Don't worry you will get topside of this and their feathers will grow back 

[flowerpot]

I can't thank you both enough for this, I feel much more confident now about tackling the problem.  I'll go out now and pick one of my girls up and take a look, I was always concerned about frightening them!  I will certainly use Flubenvet, plus frontline spray if they have a problem. Thank you both for your help.

[joyfull]

use flubenvet two or three times a year whether you see any worms or not, this way you will be preventing them 

[flowerpot]

Thank you, will do.