Chicken Lost Feathers

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LuvMyChicks4

LuvMyChicks4

Hatching
5 Years
Jul 30, 2014
5
0
7
Hello! I have read this website many times, but this is my first time posting. I am worried about one of my chickens. The other day we got them out of their coop to let them run around the yard and noticed one of them had lost a lot of feathers. She was acting weird. The next day there were more feathers gone and she was very skiddish. She wouldn't let us get near her. Then we noticed that the other chickens seems really aggressive around her. We separated her from the others last night. Does anyone have any idea what is going on?
700
 
Looks like she's gone and molted all her feathers at once! Don't worry, it's perfectly normal. The new ones should grow in pretty quickly. She'll be uncomfortable for a while though, so don't pick her up if it isn't necessary. :)
 
LuvMyChicks4 said:
Hello! I have read this website many times, but this is my first time posting. I am worried about one of my chickens. The other day we got them out of their coop to let them run around the yard and noticed one of them had lost a lot of feathers. She was acting weird. The next day there were more feathers gone and she was very skiddish. She wouldn't let us get near her. Then we noticed that the other chickens seems really aggressive around her. We separated her from the others last night. Does anyone have any idea what is going on?
Click to expand...
My welsummer hen, Tabitha, looks almost like that. I thought she'd gone and joined a strip club for chickens, but it's just molting season here.
 
Thank you so much! I thought when they molted they didn't lose their wing feathers (not sure why I thought that). She has only two feathers left on her wings!
I forgot to mention that she seems to be limping, and holds her left leg up. Does the molting explain the aggressiveness of the other chickens?
 
Yes, wing feathers get molted too. Feathers get a lot of damage throughout the year, and they all need to be replaced before winter.
The other birds are probably pecking her because her pinfeathers look interesting, and chickens investigate things by pecking. If you start seeing blood on her, you may want to isolate her from the flock for a while.

Limping is probably completely unrelated. Check for swellings/dark scabs under her feet, and research "bumblefoot" if you see any, foot problems can be pretty bad for chickens.

Good luck! :)
 
I looked up bumble foot and figured that's probably what she has, but just went and looked at her and see no evidence of that. We have her separated and hopefully she will get better. Thank you all so much for your help!!
 

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