Premature molt? Please help!

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goofychickens

goofychickens

Chirping
Jun 22, 2015
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watching Doctor Who or listening to Halsey
Chickens usually molt their 2nd year and anually after that . My pullet Mary was born in April 2015 and I observed just recently : 1. Added scrawnines. Mary looks a lot scrawnier than all her sisters.2. Bare spots from behind legs to breast.3. The bare spots eventually (after a month or so of bareness) have got 6 or so pink quills with beige tips. Mary was a PROLIFIC layer but now has stopped laying.
Please help, I love Mary dearly. Is she moulting prematurely?:hit
-Goofy
 
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She may be getting her feathers pecked out by a flockmate or doing it herself. Look her over for evidence of lice, mites, or their eggs. Look especially around the vent for tiny bugs, white clusters at the base of feathers or dark speck on the skin. Sit around with your chickens for awhile watching to see if any pecking foes on. Make sure that your chickens are getting a food 16-20% protein feed, are not over crowded, and get outside to roam around daily. Sometimes using an anti-pick lotion, or something like Nustock cream on the area can help prevent more pecking. Pictures sometimes help with identifying the problem.
 
goofychickens said:
Chickens usually molt their 2nd year and anually after that . My pullet Mary was born in April 2015 and I observed just recently : 1. Added scrawnines. Mary looks a lot scrawnier than all her sisters.2. Bare spots from behind legs to breast.3. The bare spots eventually (after a month or so of bareness) have got 6 or so pink quills with beige tips. Mary was a PROLIFIC layer but now has stopped laying.
Please help, I love Mary dearly. Is she moulting prematurely?
hit.gif

-Goofy
Click to expand...

I think she's just molting. Don't worry too much:). You could take her to a farm vet to be sure, though.
 
goofychickens said:
OK thanks. Don't have any farm vets around here though
hmm.png
I'm researching on avian lice.
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How far away is the closest one? Do you know?
This could be a diet thing. Try to give her more protein, you can give chickens meat like ground beef and such. Bugs are also good, too. Does she have any poop on her behind?
 
Can you take a picture of her where we can see the feather loss? If she's got pin feathers growing in it's possible that she's molting and lots of chickens slow down their egg laying when they molt.
 
chicksurreal said:
Can you take a picture of her where we can see the feather loss? If she's got pin feathers growing in it's possible that she's molting and lots of chickens slow down their egg laying when they molt.
Click to expand...

Agreed. All of my chickens have stopped laying at all due to molt, and they're usually amazing layers.
 
Chickens don't always read the books and molt "when they are supposed to". I had a Easter Egger last year who molted - and molted quite dramatically, I might add - at the ripe old age of 8 months. She was fine - kinda moody and standoffish because those pin feathers growing back in hurt a little, and her energy level was way down too. But molt over, eggs back! So if you've checked for parasites and she's clear, then I'd just increase her protein a bit (hard boiled eggs crushed with the shells are great for that) and relax.
 

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