Completely bald (chcicken) bums........?????

[Ladytophamhatt]

I noticed one of our chcikens looks abit tatty earlier, kind of ruffled up a bit.

I watched her for a while and noticed she has a completly bald bum.
Theres patch of about 2x2 inches without a single feather.....I noticed the nesting box had lots of feathers in when I changed the bedding but thought it was just general moulting.

I#m not sure how another chicken could have done to beacuse they always sit with thier bums against the wall....anoher chicken woudn't be able to reach the feathers.

Shes prefectly happy, just has a cold arse.

any idea what it coudl be??

[TheDuchessOfNorksBride]

Hmm, curious! Doesn't sound like moulting. And it's unlikely to be feather pecking by other hens as the feathers are all in the nest box - unless she sat with her bottom facing outwards and another hen was impatient to get into lay?!

They self-pluck feathers from breast and underneath when they go broody and generally leave the feathers in the nest but not from their bottoms. Unless she thinks she has to 'sit' very upright on her eggs!

She might just be itchy. Have you wormed recently? Have they had enough mite powder? It's probably less effective when the weather is wet? Anything infesting the nestbox?

[Ladytophamhatt]

How oftened do they need to be wormed?
we go t them at the very end of may and they were all up to date on immunisations then.
Are there are other symptons? There was a virtually white poo in the droppings tray yesterday and I thought that was odd....well it was more of a peachy colour then white but still odd.

The feathers are from the really fuffy area, so unless you get down tp chicken bum level you'd never know where they came from. Just looking at her she looks fine,just a bit tatty....she must have tied herself in knots getting them out

I don't think anything has infected the box. We change the straw every 2-3 days or when theres poo in there (which ever is sooner). Plus its an omlet cube so plastic, I thought any infestations would have a hard time getting comfy on/in plastic....

[TheDuchessOfNorksBride]

I worm twice a year with Flubenvet powder (available from Scats etc) in Spring and Autumn. Usually there are no symptoms of worms unless the infestation is so bad that the chicken loses all condition.

Poo colour is nearly always a reflection of what they've eaten rather than illness but always worth monitoring (aren't chickens fun!).

Other than being a weird-broody, I'm at a loss to explain her 'hollywood' style grooming.

[redwino]

A had a hen go broody recently and she had a bald bum too. I assumed it was something to do with being broody and I think the feathers are growing back now.

[Ladytophamhatt]

she isn;t showing any other signs of broodiness, shes been out in teh garden all day destroying it scratching around

[TheDuchessOfNorksBride]

Perhaps she hasn't got the whole idea of broodiness yet because she's so young. You'll have to watch her next year! (A broody hen is a pita unless you actually want the chicks).

[Ladytophamhatt]

I think it might be teh other chickens.....

I was hanging teh washing out earlier and saw one plucking feathers from another chook. It wasn't from the already bald chicken but a different, still fluffy bummed chicken.

Whats all that about then?

[GentleOtter]

We had a bare bum Sussex that looked like a baboon and it was a complete mystery. ( Sadly, someone's dog got her )

Is there a link to the place that you can get Flubenvet please? I have had an awful job trying to get it.

[Ladytophamhatt]

funnily enough Otter she is a sussex too, well both o fthe plucked chickens are......

[GentleOtter]

I wondered at first if it was the over amorous cockerel so separated him into his own run but her feathers never grew back. It was like she had a chickeny 'Hollywood'.

River Cottage has a good forum and 'though I typed in 'bald bottom' is just seems to refer to other bald patches ie moulting, nesting or randy rooster damage.
I will keep looking though.

[GentleOtter]

River Cottage

[tortoiseSHELL]

You can get flubenvet from Domestic Fowl Trust - takes 2-3 days to come.

[TheDuchessOfNorksBride]

If it's the other chickens then look up 'feather pecking' and/or 'feather eating'. Are they bored? If they're confined to a run you could try hanging up some broccoli so that they have to jump up for it or give them plenty to scratch about in.

Sorry this is short, too much to do this evening and I shouldn't be hanging around the chicken threads (again)_.

[Ladytophamhatt]

Hmmmmm, now I think its a broody thing...or a bit of both.

They aren't confined to the run, we let them out everyday (although ATM I'm letting them out less as we're going away soon so I don't want them getting used to being ouyt everyday) but one of them is showing all the signs of broodiness and th elast few mornings I've had to pick her up off the egg after about 2hours. She then carries one like nothing has happened...

So I think it might be a combination of both.

I'l try hanging up some stuff in there, although the last time I did that it scared them all half to death and they avoided it like the plague.

[gillions]

Hi, just wondering if you got anywhere with the "bald bum" issue? We have 5 chickens - they recently moved here from my partners old house. They were a little bald when they got here but 4 of them steadily got worse - and not a pecking order thing as the most picked no appears to have the most fluffy re-growth! They have lots of space, we have checked and treated for mites (although we didn't actually find any) they are still laying and appear to by happy enough but they look terrible!

Any suggestions welcome..