[KathyH]

As it says in the topic line - our Doris has a bald patch right across her bum and the skin is red. She is eating, drinking and laying well and seems perfectly ok otherwise. The two others are fine - no apparent problems with them. They have all been happy together as far as we can tell so although it might be bullying we haven't seen any signs of it. She is the shyest one of the trio but we have never seen her picked on at all. They have all been together since we got them in the summer and nothing different has happened to them.
Any suggestions as to what it might be and what we do about it?
We will scrub the hen house out tomorrow in case its red mite - but again we have looked and can't see any and its only one chook affected.

  :?:

[KathyH]

No answers here as yet. Does this mean its a difficult question or too obvious for comment. We are new to chicken keeping and maybe this is just what moulting looks like. I just need some reassurance?
Anyway I have now photographed her poor red rear end and hope the posting mechanism works and you can see this. She does look as if other feathers are loose too - along her sides. No other bald patches yet though and this morning she laid a nice big egg with no problem and she seems quite  happy.
Here's the picture -

[Wildeone]

I'm no expert but that does look sore!!!  

I hope someone who's in the know comes along soon x x

[poultrygeist]

Hi KathyH,

Don't get too excited cos I have no answers !

Could try a search in the forum to see if anythign similar has been asked and answered.
We too new to be of any practical help on this but hopefully it will get noticed and suggestions will come in.

Nice photo by the way !!  

I hope she grows them back soon. Must be chilly for her.

Rob

[Aunt Sally]

Sorry not to have picked this question up earlier Kathy.

It looks to me as if she is bottom (sorry for the pun) of the pecking order and the other girls have plucked her.  Although her skin is red it is quite normal.  I would spray the area with purple spray, I get it from the horsey supplies shop.  This is antseptic and the colour is unatractive to the other hens for pecking at.  It looks as if she has a few feathers regrowing so good news there.

Keep an eye on her for any other problems like runny poos as sometime a hen gets picked upon because they have an underlying problem.

Let us know how things go  

[KathyH]

Thanks Aunt Sally. What is the name of the purple spray do you know? We have a Countrywide stores near here and I can go get some. Just don't want to look a wally asking!
Its not moult then?

[babe]

hi kathy, its actually called 'purple spray'

i swear by it, i have 6 new ex batts that have all got plucked spots, and they are a lovey purple colour at the minute  

[KathyH]

Thanks  
I am off to the"Purple Spray" shop right now!

Poor Doris - she is such a pretty chicken and a real sweetie. Not sure how she will feel about purple - but I guess it goes with her grey speckles!!

[KathyH]

Ok - she has a purple derriere! Very fetching too!
Thanks for all the advice folks - I was feeling rather at a loss.

I swung by Tesco and got some corn on the cob and gave them two cobs to play with - I hope that gives them something to think about apart from plucking poor Doris.
It was noticeable that she was the least certain about her right to have a go at the cobs - but I figured that two cobs for three chickens means she should get a go at one sometime. I didn't want to give them three cobs at once as they will get fat!
Tomorrow I will hang up a cob for more fun. Maybe boredom is a factor as well - although they have been ok so far.

We shall see.
Thanks again for the advice  

[Wildeone]

I've got one who's defantly last in the pecking order already so i might nick your idea of hanging a cob up! Sounds great!!!

[Midwife]

Poor Doris. I hope the purple spray helps. I was using one of my nice white towels the other day after my shower....... I noticed some lovely PURPLE splats that wasn't meant to be there!!  :?  Someone had wrapped up the dog to spray her foot! Crikey that stuff stains.

[KathyH]

Does it stop dogs licking wounds then?

[Midwife]

It stops mine. But its also a very good antiseptic.

[alphaminx]

Hi, I was wanting to see the photo of Doris, Honey seems to have the same condition... she is happy, eatting, and laying, but has bald red sore looking bum area... It is a worry.. hope to hear from you,

[KathyH]

Gosh this topic was started over two  years ago and poor old Doris has long gone to that hen house in the sky!

The root cause seemed to be red mite in the hen house and Doris - being a looser feathered bird that her mates was most affected. Once she started loosing feathers the others added to the problem by picking on her and pulling more feathers out.
The purple spray worked very well indeed and the feathers came back slowly.
It was a long haul and a messy one to get the red mite under control and we had to scrub out the hen house with jeyes fluid and dust it with red mite powder - almost on a daily basis.

Sadly Doris didn't last as long as she should have as I think the red mite went for her more than the others and weakened her. She was a Speckled Star and her feathers were less dense and her skin must have showed up more for them. The other two chooks were a golden hybrid layer and a black rock. The golden one had a bit of trouble but not as much and recovered quickly. The Black Rock didn't seem to be affected at all - but her feathers were densely packed and she was the kind that is supposed to be better in cold climates because of her dense feathering. I think the mites seemed to not bother her anyway.

Good luck with it. The purple spray did help a lot but we did have a bad infestation and Doris grew her feathers back but was always a bit flakey after that and didn't last long - a few more months I seem to remember.

Hope this helps.
In all