[Chicks@105]

Hi All,

We are new to the forum and chicken keeping and would love some advice please 

We have had our 4 chickens for almost 2 weeks now and everything so far is going well.  However, when we fed them their green's this afternoon we noticed that one of our black rocks has a bald vent area.

She is healthy and happy otherwise but she looks like she has been plucked around her vent!  We can't find any of her missing feathers in the run or coop though and she is very clean.

Is this a common problem/issue? 

Any advice you have would be great.

Thanks in advance.

[Vember]

Hi Chicks

Could one of the other girls be pecking them off? Then eating them?

Or it could just be moulting

How old are they?
What do you feed them?
Are they laying?

Sarah

[Chicks@105]

The one who has the bald spot appears to be the 'boss' and we haven't noticed any of them pecking each other but I guess this might happen whilst we are at work.

I think they might be too young for a moult  although could be wrong.  The Black Rocks are laying and are about 23 weeks the Lohman Browns aren't laying and are about 19/20 weeks.

We are feeding them layers pellets along with cabbage, broccoli, mealworms and mixed corn - not all on the same day though.

The Black Rocks are laying and it is one of them who is bald.

[derbymeg]

i have exactly the same problem any help accepted

[lisa80]

i dont really have the answer but have you checked for lice?if not then it may be the other girls pecking her .you need to catch them in the act really ,there are anti pecking sprays and as a last resort i would put a beak bit on the offender :)if  the area gets sore or bleeds spray with purple spray as blood will atract the other girls .if its just one girl pecking you could try removing her for a bit if you have the space  hope this helps:)

[hillfooter]

This isn't an unusual problem and moulting and feather pecking have been noted as possible causes as well as parasites.   If the problem gets worse carefully check the feathers round her bottom for mites.  Usually you can see their eggs clustered around the base of the feathers looking like small grains of sugar.  I'm not sure what the best treatment is these days if it's the depluming mite but avoid the Barrier Louse powder commonly sold in feed merchants in a white cardboard tube.  It smells nice but isn't an insecticide though it contains a mosquito repellant which is of dubious value in treating lice.  The same goes for their Red Mite powder too.  Spend your cash on effective treatments only.

Chx moult several times through the growing stage as well as usual annual adult moult, though sometimes so lightly you don't notice.

It's unlikely to be feather pecking on it's own as usually the hackle feathers are the main target and only one bird seems to be affected.

I've had hybrids do this with me and I haven't identified a certain cause but the feathers have grown back perfectly without any treatment following the next moult so it will probably fix itself.

Re feeding - just use a standard compound feed such as layers pellets and "greens" if they have no accesss to grass otherwise hand feed corn, mealworms etc in small treat portions in the evening only.  Make insoluable grit and crushed oyster shell available adlib as required by the birds but don't force feed by adding it to other food.

As long as the bird seems happy shows no signs of depression and is eating well there's probably no cause for concern.
HF

[derbymeg]

This isn't an unusual problem and moulting and feather pecking have been noted as possible causes as well as parasites.   If the problem gets worse carefully check the feathers round her bottom for mites.  Usually you can see their eggs clustered around the base of the feathers looking like small grains of sugar.  I'm not sure what the best treatment is these days if it's the depluming mite but avoid the Barrier Louse powder commonly sold in feed merchants in a white cardboard tube.  It smells nice but isn't an insecticide though it contains a mosquito repellant which is of dubious value in treating lice.  The same goes for their Red Mite powder too.  Spend your cash on effective treatments only.

Chx moult several times through the growing stage as well as usual annual adult moult, though sometimes so lightly you don't notice.

It's unlikely to be feather pecking on it's own as usually the hackle feathers are the main target and only one bird seems to be affected.

I've had hybrids do this with me and I haven't identified a certain cause but the feathers have grown back perfectly without any treatment following the next moult so it will probably fix itself.

Re feeding - just use a standard compound feed such as layers pellets and "greens" if they have no accesss to grass otherwise hand feed corn, mealworms etc in small treat portions in the evening only.  Make insoluable grit and crushed oyster shell available adlib as required by the birds but don't force feed by adding it to other food.

As long as the bird seems happy shows no signs of depression and is eating well there's probably no cause for concern.
HF

Thanks

I asked my vet who is an avid hen keeper herself when i took the cat for its annual booster

She said exactly the same as you have posted, and we concluded as a relatively young hen it is having a moult, she also said moults of varying amount
can happen at any time in younger birds

Checked no mites / pecking

I had bought the mite powder you mentioned as it is going back to the merchant - vet also advised same £8 back in my pocket!

Thanks for the advice

[mad mark]

I have two chickens who have been bald for some time, one in the vent area and one on the chest area........they are still laying okay. They are about 18 months old. The shed 6 x 4 in size and run 12 x6 attached to the shed is cleaned regularly I treated it for red mite just in case last Saturday. I have been using the white cardboard tubes of red mite powder and louse treatment, though folk on here reckon its no good, I have just read. Bought a pink spray bottle and treated the hen house on Saturday with that, not that I have seen the red mite anywhere or louse as far as I can tell.
What do louse look like? Not seen them though.............

[hillfooter]

Lice are very small move quickly on the chx skin and are about 2 to 3 mm long with thin bodies and are grey coloured.

See picture of red mite which are up to the size of a pin head or smaller.  Reddy dark brown if just fed or grey otherwise.  They are rarely seen on the bird being nocturnal. They smear blood when squashed.
HF

[Craig69]

Don't know what truth is in this, but i was told by a guy when i visited MVF that Lohmann Browns are known to peck at the vent area of other hens.
He said they are known for there canabilisim & can do this until the victim dies.
Like i said not sure if this is true?
I have 3 Lohmann's & haven't noticed them doing that. One has the occasional peck at another but doesn't seem to last.

[hillfooter]

Sounds like baloney to me.  All hens are capable of this behaviour if you get the method of husbandry wrong.  It's a bad habit formed through overcrowding, over feeding, particularly high energy feeds and boredom usually.
HF