Chickens loosing feathers?

[dewdropsinwv]

Thanks Ridgerunner! I am not sure what's going on really. It's just strange to me... I'm still pretty new to all this chicken stuff.

Catjack, no roosters here. I'm not even supposed to have live stock where I live. No one around to really complain and take me to court over the deed restriction.

 

[baymule]

A higher protein treat will help with growing the feathers back in. I have given mine a cup of dry catfood for the protein in it. They love it too. Any leftover meat scraps will be appreciated also. My girls found a piece of meat the dog buried for later, dug it up and chased each other all over the yard one day last week. I think each hen must have got a bite of that meat before the next hen snatched it and took off running. They were so funny.

 

[dewdropsinwv]

Sorry for all the pictures, But this is an idea of what they look like.

 

[dewdropsinwv]

Baymule, I give my chickens meat and they fight over it too I like to watch them chase each other

 

[baymule]

Chicken molt, an euphemism for chicken mange. The word molt just makes us feel all touchy-feely pink ponies and rainbows.

 

[dewdropsinwv]

So that's what's goin on baymule! ???? I thought so my self, but MontyJ says no

 

[JimWWhite]

I've got the very same thing with my flock of 18 Black Sex Links. About twelve of them all look like the rear-end shots shown here. Two of them even have completely lost their tail feathers. Someone suggested they're pulling their own feathers out but I kind of doubt it. All seem healthy and are heavy layers. I can't see mites or anything on them when I go out to the coop at night with a strong light and I examine their vent area and all along the feather line. Nothing. We've tried dusting them and the coop with DE and that didn't work. I even laid down DE where they do their sand bathing but still nothing helps. Last year when it first started happening I went as far as sprinkling Sevin dust in the coop and run. It didn't help either. This has been going on for over a year and we can't come up with a solution. I think I'm going to try the cat food treatment and see if we can get some more protein in them. I doubt it will hurt. This has also been reported over in the Backyard Chicken forum as well, but no one has come up the cat food remedy. Who knows...

 

[baymule]

@JimWWhite now that you mention it, sometimes chickens do eat feathers, for the protein. Maybe they are stripping the feathers off each other and eating the feathers. do you see feathers on the ground, or are they just gone? Maybe it started with one deficient hen, then the "monkey see monkey do" mentality took over. Maybe they are truly protein deficient or some other vitamin. Hard to believe that, with the good feeds that are available. Try the cat food, it sure can't hurt.

 

[Just-Moxie]

Molting is a good thing! You want for them to molt! Shake off those dusty worn old feathers, and hopefully grow new ones before winter sets in. My game bird looks so bad at molt that she earned the name "Dustmop". Turn her over, tie a broomstick to her feet, and dusty away!!

It took her a while, ok...took her forever...to grow her new winter coat back.

 

[dewdropsinwv]

My chickens have not slowed down on laying. I'm thinking protine is needed. Will grab a bag of starter grower for them payday.