CrazyChickenMom11
Chirping
Hello,
I have this hen who is a little over a year old that is loosing all of her feathers. I had a feather plucking problem in my flock but the two perpetrators have been dealt with since mid-April (put chicken blinders on them) and there are no other bullies. However, this one hen kept slowly loosing her feathers. I figured they would just grow back when she molted in the fall and as she was still laying eggs and very happy, I decided not to do anything about it.
Just this last week, two of my hens started to appear broody, one of them being the hen loosing the feathers. They (of course) are in the same egg box with no desire to leave however, the hen in question is starting to look really raggedy as shown in the pictures. I'm started to get worried about her since I would have expected her to maintain her current feather count not loose more, especially behind her neck. I do not have roosters and I have never had broody hens in my flock before so I have no idea what to expect. Most of my other hens have feather loss from the bullies that they still haven't grown back but not nearly as bad as this hen.
Could her feather loss be due to her being broody or could it be something else and if so, how do I help her? Should I be concerned about this loss of feathers? It's just started to get really hot now and I'm worried she could overheat or get sunburned (the latter is less likely since she refuses to come out of the egg box.) Thank you!
I have this hen who is a little over a year old that is loosing all of her feathers. I had a feather plucking problem in my flock but the two perpetrators have been dealt with since mid-April (put chicken blinders on them) and there are no other bullies. However, this one hen kept slowly loosing her feathers. I figured they would just grow back when she molted in the fall and as she was still laying eggs and very happy, I decided not to do anything about it.
Just this last week, two of my hens started to appear broody, one of them being the hen loosing the feathers. They (of course) are in the same egg box with no desire to leave however, the hen in question is starting to look really raggedy as shown in the pictures. I'm started to get worried about her since I would have expected her to maintain her current feather count not loose more, especially behind her neck. I do not have roosters and I have never had broody hens in my flock before so I have no idea what to expect. Most of my other hens have feather loss from the bullies that they still haven't grown back but not nearly as bad as this hen.
Could her feather loss be due to her being broody or could it be something else and if so, how do I help her? Should I be concerned about this loss of feathers? It's just started to get really hot now and I'm worried she could overheat or get sunburned (the latter is less likely since she refuses to come out of the egg box.) Thank you!
