Hello beautiful BYCers! Can you tell me if there is anything I can give my hen to help feather growt

[chickiyo]

Hi there,

My Barred Rock is starting to loose some feathers on her head and neck area. Its not that much, but if you look closely you can tell she is missing some of that feather cover.

I am not sure why she is losing those feathers, my coop is cleaned every week and we put a lot of ditomeacus earth dust to keep those pesky chicken mites away. And I know that it isn't the other chickens who are pulling out the feathers, because this particular girl is top dog in our flock, which means no hen dares to peck her "highness".

Is there anything I can give her to help promote her feather growth? She has such gorgeous speckled coloring and it would be a shame to lose it. I heard coconut oil is a good stimulant when massaged on the chicken so I rubbed some coconut oil on her bald spot to help the feathers move along. I also give her yogurt to help her build the calcium she needs to grow feathers back.

Is there anything else I can do?

 

[Judy]

You don't mention how old she is. Molting normally begins at the head and neck. They do better if they get some extra protein when molting, expecially animal sourced protein, as feathers have a lot of protein in them.

DE may help control mites but will not stop an infestation. Also, it should be used sparingly, because it is so irritating to their respiratory tract (and yours.) If by chance they have mites, you will need to treat with Sevin or permethrin/pyrethrin. Some people also use dog flea medicine but I don't know how safe this is.