Awful Looking Hens

[woolychicken]

I HAVE 4 HENS THAT LOOK LIKE THEY HAVE BEEN THRU THE FEATHER PLUCKER.

I GOT RID OF THE OVERACTIVE ROOSTER BUT NOW I NEED TO WORK ON THE HENS GETTING BACK THERE FEATHERS. THEY LAY EGGS EVERY DAY BUT THE POOR THING LOOK SO BAD I MADE JACKETS FOR THEM BUT THAT DID NOT HELP

SO I HAD TO LET GO OF THE ROO. BUT WHAT CAN I FEED THEM TO REGROW FEATHERS.
I FEED KENT FEED AND GIVE THEM BOSS AND WHOLE OATS EVERY DAY PLUS AT NIGHT THEY GET WHAT I CALL MY MONSTER MASH. HOT OATMEAL WITH (YOGURT OR ALFLAHA SPROUTS) BOSS ANS SOME LAYER FEED MIXED IN .CORN IS ADD ON COLD DAYS.ALSO VET RX IS GOOD TO USE ONCE IN A WHILE. IN THE SUMMER I JUST GIVE OUT GARDEN VEGGIES AND THEY FREE RANGER
WHAT SHOULD I DO?

 

[Teach97]

the ol' game bird guys would tell you BOSS

 

[ladybug99]

I was told foods with a lot of protein promotes feather growth....hard boiled eggs, fish , even cat and dog food

 

[ladrholman]

May be a stupid question ... but what is BOSS?? I just had to isolate one of my girls for her feathers to regrow. Another chicken kept pecking and eating her feathers.. I give scrambled eggs and have given no sodium salmon. They love it... just be wary of the salt. I don't offer the cat or dog food because it often has chicken meal or meat in it and ... well that just seems wrong LOL.

 

[averytds]

Black Oil Sunflower Seeds

 

[chuckzoo]

I would cut out all the other treats and switch them to Gamebird/Showbird feed, it is 24% protein which is what they need to regrow their feathers. Feather are comprised of 85% protein (from a peer reviewed paper).

Gamebird feed has all the nutrition chickens need with a high protein content. Once they have regrown their feathers you can switch them back to their layer feed.

Good luck

 

[aggie9296]

I have a hen molting right now and yogurt and cottage cheese seems to be helping feathers come back faster.

 

[Duramaxgirl]

Wow great info here! I had 2 delawares molting and started giving them sunflower seeds and it helped them grow feathers a lot faster...

 

[BellevueOmlet]

I read the title of this post and just thought you were a bad person for calling your hens awful looking but I bet they do, and kind of cute. Do you have any pictures?