[Fishyhaddock]

2 of my four chickens, year old,  have very red skin - one is just around the vent area whilst the other is all over her body and she has a small bare patch about an inch up from the vent. They are finishing moulting (I think) and have recently been moved to a new coop in a part of our field that housed the turkeys a couple of months ago. Eating well, laying well and enjoying lots of dust baths.
Can anyone help - no sign of mites etc.
Thanks.
Fishy

[shetlandpaul]

check for mites and lice.

[Fishyhaddock]

Have checked in detail, absolutely no sign of mites or lice on the chicks or in their house.  Could it just be the moulting is exceptionally bad as they are pretty bald in places yet the skin at  those bald patches seems fine.  The redness seems to be mainly around boney areas i.e. down the breast bone, could they just be rubbing themselves and causing it?  Combes and wattles very healthy red as normal.

                                              Thanks again  Fishy.

[Beewyched]

Never seen this on poultry myself, but have found Aloe Vera to be good for any skin conditions that are not obviously caused by anything (lice, mites etc) - have bought some great stuff recently from Holland & Barret (they got another one of their sales on at the mo) Organic Aloe Vera Gel - it's got Tea Tree Oil & Arnica in it, made by Dr Organic.  Will help sooth their little sore bits & it's antibacterial too 

[doganjo]

Vaseline is good too - smothers any motes that are there

[Carasine]

I'm suffering the same problem at the moment (well one of my hens is)
She did have lice a few weeks ago but has been treated and is now clear, but the redness seems to be getting worse.
Don't know what to suggest.

[Beewyched]

Try giving the Aloe Vera a go

 

[Carasine]

I'll give it a shot.

Just had another thought, I'm treating the bedding with DE diatom, which I have heard can cause dry irritated skin.
Maybe that is my problem!

[doganjo]

I use it all the time and have never had any problems.  Savlon cream is good for raw skin, I once saved a hen that one of my dogs got using that.  The skin was ripped right off to the membrane - I sluiced out all the gravel and dirt, squirted half a tube of savlon cream in, slapped it back together, put a crepe bandage round her body to keep the wound in place and stuck it together with elastoplast.  10 days later took it all off and she was right as rain - lived another 4 years after that too, laying every day bar a few in winter.

[northfifeduckling]

try putting the diatom under the bedding for a while. I put it directly on my birds and none had a reaction. The boy has bad patches like you describe and after many inspections he did have lice after all. It might just take a long time to heal after treatment, so I would give the Aloe a go and Vaseline and do let us know how you get on! 

[Fishyhaddock]

Some 3 months later and I still have one hen with v red skin where all her feathers have been pecked away. She is the mistress of the coup so I can only deduce that she is pecking them out herself! The others wouldn't dare. Lots of vaseline but the feathers seem to be disappearing. i have just read a post on beak trimming - would this help?
Fishy

[little blue]

I wondered about feather pecking - we have a very small girl who ended up looking like a turkey because one of the larger hens was sitting on her & pulling her feathers out!!  It took some survaillance to catch her out too!

[northfifeduckling]

good old pecking order 
they take so long to grow back, too, what a shame

[feldar]

Sorry to be so dumb, but what is diatom

[northfifeduckling]

Diatomaceous Earth, try ebay for it, good stuff , non-toxic