bald bum

[mabel88]

any idea why some of my hens have bald red bums

[Mrs B]

Hi Mabel, is there some feather pecking going on maybe?

Someone with a better idea will be along shortly I hope.

[Littlemisskatie]

Hi, I had exactly the same problem with Ruby my Rhode Island hybrid. She moulted loosing all her feathers on her undercarriage and backside, which then turned bright red and looked sore. I tried sudacream, which only worked as long as you kept applying it, as soon as it cleared up and I stopped putting the cream on, the redness would return within a few days. I was worried she was in pain so I took her to the vet, who also didnt have a clue what could be causing it, but she gave her a weeks dose of Anti-inflammetry to see if that worked. It did take the redness away but as soon as the treatment stopped, within a week she had a red bum and tummy again. I knew it could not be ammonia from the bedding as I change this daily as that is where they sleep, so I went down the food route. I stopped all treats and scraps from the table, and started re-introducing treats and scraps one at a time to see if anything made a difference, but to be perfectly honest...........nothing changed. The vets told me that it would be a very expensive road to go down if they started testing for allergies etc, and they did say they didnt think she was in any pain or discomfort so in the end i just gave up. That was last year and Ruby had the redness until 3 months ago when her feathers started to grow back. The minute the feathers started to grow back all the redness just disappeared over a short amount of time. It still puzzles me!!!!! Ive often thought maybe she is allergic to straw or sawdust?? I have a cat that is allergic to flea saliva so it would not surprise me at all!!

[sandy]

Brooders get this(sat on their a*** too long)

[Bristolianbelle]

4 out of my 6 girls have bald btm's. And we think it is our light sussex who is feather plucking them

[jackian]

One of my girls Eva has had a bald bum since she came to us... You cant see it as it is covered with her fluffy knickers but when I had to give her a bath a couple of times as soon as the feathers got wet you could see it, as soon as the feathers were dry you couldn't ...It does not bother her at all ,but she does have problems with her egg laying.

[MuddyHell]

FatDaddy one of our Black Rocks has lost her knickers too. Firstly we thought it might be lice, and gave all ivermectin. No change (just had to bin 15 days worth of eggs - ouch!).
The I tried dusting the house & irds. then I thought it was bullying but didn't know who so isolated FD for her own good - but she had even fewer feathers! eventually I spent a couple of hours watching her, and I've decided it's self-inflicted. I browsed on the internet and though it might be depluming lice so send FD to the vet with y OH. but the vet didn't find depluming lice/mites, and said it was behavioural and as she's still eating/drining/laying/playing to leave her to it ! I'm about to start the sudocrem route jsut so that I feel I'm doing something really ! we are increasing the run size anyway, and I've cut all treats out, they just have pellets and the occasional cabbage. this did coincide with the warm spell, and someone on her suggested it coudl be broodiness and that some hens do it to cool down! Isn't it frustrating !!!