Longest Molt Ever and Severe Bullying

[SD13]

Hello there,

My 11 Red sex Links are now 2 years old (Born April 2020). They started losing feathers around late September/October 2021, so I figured it was their first big molt since they had never molted before this. We never lost complete egg production, but it did decrease to around 4-5 a day vs. the 11 we were used to, and the quality has definitely decreased. We are now into June 2022 and they are STILL at various stages of molting. I have tried everything I have read up on:
Added more protein with scrambled eggs, mealy worms, 40% protein crumble. I have added more Calcium, they are always on a light timer, they have a large run (it is all dirt now since they pecked away all of the foilage) but I put various logs, and toys in for them to be entertained, I add DE sometimes (but maybe I can start adding more?). I give them scraps of stuff they can have, but decreased that since I read it can dilute their protein intake.
I am also now dealing with severe bullying which isn't helping them heal and grow new feathers. I will post a photo once I take one, but one girl I am ashamed to say I did not see how bad her injuries were until I witnessed her terrifyingly trying to escape 2 other girls. She is now in isolation and hopefully will recover in a couple of weeks. I am going to be putting the bully in her own solidarity confinement, cause clearly she needs some perspective.

I check the girls for Lice and Mites regularly, and I do not see any signs. I just do not understand how a molt can last almost 10 months at this point? And why has the bullying gotten so bad??

Any advice or shared experience would be greatly appreciated. They were bought as egg layers, and I am spending a lot of money (food has gone from $16.00CAD/25kg bag to $27CAD since April 2020!!), time and effort for no eggs or low quality eggs. I am just sort of frustrated and confused as I pride myself on being at least a somewhat decent animal mom, and feel like I have done everything wrong but do not know why.

Added note- now I am worried they are bullying her cause she is sick! Since yesterday she now has this white on her beak and comb??
I tried to get a photo of the injuries on her back but she kept moving

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Could be because you are running lights on a timer. Molts are driven by the seasonal light cycle. From my discussions once with an individual that lives near the equator where light is pretty consistent molts aren't something that happens on a schedule when lighting is the same every day.

Also it could be the breed. Sex links can lay a lot up front and burn out easily. One of mine never molted either. She just laid for 2 years straight and died one day.

Bullying can be from not enough room or protein in the diet. Sex links also seem to need a lot of both.

I personally might turn out the light and see if that helps. Excessive lighting can cause aggression too.

 

[Mrs. K]

I think it might be feather mites?

 

[Mrs. K]

google this, and you will see the same type of wispy feather like you show.

 

[aart]

they are always on a light timer

Could be because you are running lights on a timer.

Exactly!

What is the light timing?

 

[Mrs. K]

Look at the feathers AArt. I think it is feather mites?

 

[SD13]

Exactly!

What is the light timing?

Because we live in Canada, we have the timer for the winter... Sorry I shouldve been more specific. In the summer we dont set the time, as the coop has skylights. But in the Winter, we have the time set to turn on at 5am until sunrise (around 7:30am) and the it goes on again from (4pm-8/9pm) so they get their full amount of "sunlight"

 

[SD13]

actly!

I think it might be feather mites?View attachment 3139126

From what I have googled, I do not see anything on any of the birds, I know there are some mites that are so tiny you cant see them. But she is still laying eggs every couple of days.
I did start to take notes though, and I noticed the last few days, she is shaking her head a lot so it could very well be mites or lice!
This worries me since I have never had to deal with this before, and have no idea how they couldve gotten them.
Does anyone know if I can use Neem oil (watered down) to help cure this? Or is there something I can feed them besides DE and their regular foods that will deal with this?

 

[Mrs. K]

You need true parasite medicine. Follow the directions explicitly. DE and neem are not what you need.

https://poultrykeeper.com/external-problems/depluming-mites/

This is one time I would call my vet about my chickens. Ivemetic is like a drop on the back of the neck. But beware of the egg withdrawal.

I will tell you some animals have a natural resistance to parasites and some are more vulnerable, but it is probably a good thing to dose them all, however, again, I would follow the vet's advice, and follow it exactly.

Mrs K

 

[SD13]

You need true parasite medicine. Follow the directions explicitly. DE and neem are not what you need.

https://poultrykeeper.com/external-problems/depluming-mites/

This is one time I would call my vet about my chickens. Ivemetic is like a drop on the back of the neck. But beware of the egg withdrawal.

I will tell you some animals have a natural resistance to parasites and some are more vulnerable, but it is probably a good thing to dose them all, however, again, I would follow the vet's advice, and follow it exactly.

Mrs K

Thanks for the advice, is it safe to give ivermectin topical to birds if they don’t have depluming mites? I want to treat all of the birds just in case, they probably all have them but some are totally healthy looking.