Hens molting for 7 months

[Math]

How do I help my hens and rooster get over their molt? The hens are still laying but have been molting for about 7 months.

 

[Traphill]

Are you sure that they are not picking at each other, last fall when mine molted they stopped laying completely.

 

[patti17340]

I go with picking.. I had one chicken who I thought was molting for a year. It turned out that one of the other chickens was picking at her at night on the roost. When I lost the picking chicken my other chickens feathers grew back in.

 

[centrarchid]

How do I help my hens and rooster get over their molt? The hens are still laying but have been molting for about 7 months.

Show pictures of entire bird closeup of areas where feathers have come out.

Where are you located?

What are you feeding them?

Have you inspected for external parasites such as lice?

 

[Math]

I will get pictures.

 

[Math]

Okay, I see no lice. I am feeding layer pellets all day and scratch occasionally. And I am located in Georgia. A couple pictures show stubby feathers coming. I do see feather picking sometimes. Maybe that is the whole problem.

 

[centrarchid]

Looks like feather picking. Up protein a little. Consider spraying effected areas with BlueKote to make less appealing to pick at. Also consider putting some hay in run to provide some mental diversion. I see more self damaging behavior with bored birds.

 

[patti17340]

Do they have enough space on the roost at night. I figured out my chicken was getting peeked at night . I made the roost bigger so they were not close enough to touch each other.

 

[Math]

Looks like feather picking. Up protein a little. Consider spraying effected areas with BlueKote to make less appealing to pick at. Also consider putting some hay in run to provide some mental diversion. I see more self damaging behavior with bored birds.

Thanks, I'll up the feed protein. I will get some BlueKote and try to apply it at night. And finally, I will put some leaves and straw in the run. Again thanks for reminding me of all these pointers that I should have already done.

 

[Math]

Do they have enough space on the roost at night. I figured out my chicken was getting peeked at night . I made the roost bigger so they were not close enough to touch each other.

Thank you. I will spread the roosting poles a bit. This will prevent the hens reaching one another from a lower roosting pole. This is something else I should have already done. I guess I just wanted to blame the feather loss on molting. Again, thank you all for your help and encouragement.