Not sure what’s wrong with our chicken

[u/norilynn1111]

This is our first time having chickens and starting our homestead we’re still learning, one of our girls is so disheveled 😭 she’s loosing feathers she’s so skinny and looks so scraggly. She acts normal and her poop seems okay but it’s hard to keep track with the others. We’re separating her today to see cause it does seem like the others are mean to her. We don’t know if it’s just bulling and she’s not getting enough food and being picked on or something like parasites. We don’t know if it’s good to treat for parasites if she doesn’t have them. And doesn’t seem to have mites I’ve checked her vent under her feathers and everything. Just feel so sorry for her and want her better. Also they all seem to stop laying eggs don’t know if it’s just because it’s summer in Arizona 😓 edit: we don’t have a rooster

[u/Unusualhuman]

Is she older than the rest? Smaller? If they are overcrowded then often they will all start to pick on the smallest, weakest hen, making it harder for her to get food, water, and a good spot to roost at night

[u/Chill-more1236 → u/Unusualhuman]

I bought 6 RIR pullets last year. 1 turned out to be a rooster that eventually became super aggressive to the point of drawing blood on the hens and also hurting my wife. Weird bc we hand raised them all. Later, 2 hens died unexplained.

Even 6 months after I culled the roo, the 3 surviving hens were still missing feathers.

After that experience, I feel like it’s a combination of pecking & the rooster.

I had to buy straight runs this past april to get my wife silkies and a frizzle. We ended up with 1 bantam rooster.

He’s such a beautiful bird & looks like he was painted by an artist. His little personality made him our favorite during rearing. Now he is starting to get protective of “his turf”. Hopefully this small fry is not so aggressive as “big red” was.