I was shocked when I went into the girls this afternoon and immediately noticed that Amber looked as if she had a bare patch on her head.
My first thought was that she had had a bunch of feathers plucked out. I felt shocked and worried.
Amber looks like she has a bare patch on her head
I opened up the nest box knowing that this always draws her in to see what I am up to. I could then take a few photos and pick her up to assess any possible injury.
Amber’s poor head
There was no blood, I then gently stroked the feathers and they were stiff. They felt like they were glued together. I think that perhaps she was under the garden branch perch when she got pooped upon. I felt relieved as this is not a permanent problem. I toyed with the idea of trying to clean her up but as it had been a cold day with a frosty start, I wasn’t sure this was a good idea.
By late afternoon her head feathers seemed to look more normal. I decided to let nature take it’s course.
It seems sometimes that the girl’s throw a potential worry at me and by the end of the day it resolves itself. Maybe I need to be a bit more chilled!
Click here to see the history of my flock.
I had something that looked very similar to that. It turned out I had a plucker.
A hen who would sit on the edge of the nest box when another was laying and sit and pull her feathers out. She only targeted one hen.
There are some remedies to curb this but yours might be something entirely different.
I hope, whatever it turns out to be, is easily solved 🙂 xxxx
I have had the girls plucking each other before which is why that was the first conclusion I jumped to. However on closer inspection there were no missing feathers just feathers glued together in a stiff mess. I have to say this was the lesser of two evils and I was relieved to find it just seemed that she had been pooped on. Not great for Amber but better than getting plucked!
I hope your problem got resolved, I know from my experience how difficult this can be.