Chickens losing feathers below vent and now skin peeling off.

[Newchickenmommaof4]

Last week we noticed while giving our chickens a cooling bath that 3 of the 4 had lost the feathers under their vent. It also had poop on it. At first we thought it was mites and sprayed for mites. Then we thought it was vent gleet and treated them by putting Monistat on their vents and one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in their gallon water for 1 week. We think the vent gleet came from the algae growing in their water. Now we are cleaning it carefully daily. Anyways, today I noticed while hosing them down from the heat (111 degrees)that their vent area without feathers has peeling skin. Is this from the monistat? How do I know they are better from the vent gleet? They have never acted ill.

 

[CalBickieMomma]

I have a chronic mite problem - I wouldn't call it an infestation because the little buggers only seem to prefer certain hens and may not be on/are only found in small numbers on the others (and I spray them right away). Anyway, some of my girls have the missing feathers below the vent and my girl who gets them the worst has some crusty skin where they were congregating. Maybe the spray dried them out a little and they just need some time to heal up? Perhaps you can try some petroleum jelly on the affected area to rehydrate the skin. Good luck!