Feather Loss

[JOSEPHC]

About three months ago, one hen starting losing feathers (down to skin) on her abdomen and vent area. Now, three others are starting the same thing. All of the hens are very active though and healthy. What is the problem and what is the cure?

 

[silkiecuddles]

They may be molting, in which case I believe the best thing to do is to just let them molt. They will very likely stop laying eggs for this time period.

 

[Deansy85]

I had this happen to 4 of my hens. In my case I don't think it's molting as all my hens were less than a year old at the time and laying great. Tried a few things, giving them a treatment for lice/mites giving them a scratching area in their run and allowing them to free range when I'm at my allotment all seemed to help for a short while then over winter when they were confined to there 16sm run it got worse and 2 more hens were affected... Then I noticed that the remaining 2 were in immaculate condition so I started watching and it turned out they were pecking!

Now I have to provide a weekly protein boost which seems to be helping but if it doesn't improve soon then I will be reducing my numbers by 2!

Hope this helps!