Losing back feathers

[Chickennewbie72]

We cannot figure out what's wrong with our chickens. Several months ago a couple hens started losing back feathers. We had too many roosters at the time so we thought it was from over-mating. So we got rid of the extra roosters. We now have 2 roos for 17 hens. But more hens started losing back feathers. So then we thought lice and did a thorough clean out of the coop and treated all the chickens. But we have checked all the hens multiple times and never seen any lice or eggs and they don't seem particularly itchy and i have never seen any pull feathers out. Now recently they have stopped laying eggs. Then we realized the younger hens were not losing feathers, so we suspected overmating again and separated all adult roosters. But today I noticed some of the younger chickens have frayed feathers! They're not losing them yet but they look terrible! What in the world is wrong with our chickens??

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Are these pictures of the older or younger birds?

 

[sourland]

Some bird or birds in your flock are feather pecking/plucking. Generally they are the birds that are in perfect feather.

 

[jpalmatier83]

To me, still looks like roo work. You may have two over 17, but there are only pics of 3. If one or both have developed favorites, that could very well be overbreeding or poor technique

 

[Chickennewbie72]

Are these pictures of the older or younger birds?

The gold one is younger with the frayed feathers. The gray is older. Here are a couple others with the missing feathers.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

The gold one is younger with the frayed feathers. The gray is older. Here are a couple others with the missing feathers.

These look like from rooster wearing.

The younger one may be from mating as well. It looks mature enough. Roosters can mate as often as every 10 minutes. Younger roosters sometimes can be too much.

 

[Jay1845]

I have the same issue and thought it was the roosters so I locked them up separate and it's been 3-4 weeks and they still are losing feathers some a bunch only maybe 2 out of 18 have none missing they aren't molting and I don't see any mites or lice

 

[jpalmatier83]

I have the same issue and thought it was the roosters so I locked them up separate and it's been 3-4 weeks and they still are losing feathers some a bunch only maybe 2 out of 18 have none missing they aren't molting and I don't see any mites or lice

“Still are losing” or have still lost. Feathers won’t grow back out of season or before a molt. Also, if the Roos have damaged some of the girls feathers, they may just be falling out now.

All that said, my opinions thus far have been for OP. It’s hard to make an assessment without pictures.