A lot of my 6 chickens are losing feathers, but all are eating well and laying, is this a disease or moult ? This one is the worst, Regards Mal.

[Maldugle]

 

[Perris]

Hello @Maldugle - welcome to BYC

is there one bird in your flock with complete plumage? She may be plucking the others. Read up about feather pecking and see if your circumstances fit that bill. The search button at the top is useful, and @azygous had a thread on it recently.

 

[Maldugle]

Hello @Maldugle - welcome to BYC

is there one bird in your flock with complete plumage? She may be plucking the others. Read up about feather pecking and see if your circumstances fit that bill. The search button at the top is useful, and @azygous had a thread on it recently.

no they are all in different stages of feather loss, no sign of mites eating and laying and moving ok..strange

 

[BelovedBirds]

no they are all in different stages of feather loss, no sign of mites eating and laying and moving ok..strange

Hmm
What do you feed them? Any treats?
What are the living conditions like, size of enclosure, number of birds?

 

[theoldchick]

She's molting but needs to be fed a good quality feed. She looks like she lacking in nutrients. When hens go through a hard molt you will see massive feather loss but you should also see a lot of pinfeathers coming in. Also make sure there are no external or internal parasites present.

 

[theoldchick]

https://the-chicken-chick.com/molting-what-is-it-and-how-to-help/

 

[NatJ]

It looks like a molt to me.

Chickens usually molt in the fall, as the days are getting shorter.
I see that you are in Australia, so your days are getting shorter by now.

This may be a little earlier than is common for them to molt, but I don't think it's a problem. Hens that wait a few more months before they molt are sometimes bare in cold weather, but yours should have all their nice new feathers in plenty of time to stay comfortable when winter comes.

 

[azygous]

It's the middle of summer there, isn't it? Molt can start as early as the tail end of summer, but usually waits until the days have turned around to getting shorter, not longer. Molt also follows a pattern with areas of uniform regrowth. I see no sign of molt, just feather predation.

I have seen such awful feather plumage in my flock. As pampered and well fed my flock is, I have always had a vicious feather "predator" among them. Most recently, I have two Buttercups that ravish each other and look like they've been put through a feather plucker alive. They look a lot like the hen in your photo. Thankfully, they have begun to molt, albeit quite late, as it's deep in winter here with the days getting a little longer. It's not when chickens usually molt, I know. These two are pretty darned unique individuals. Here's their thread if you want some entertainment. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...rcup-chicks-shunning-their-heat-cave.1494237/

The best you can do is observe your flock in the afternoon when it's hot and they're loafing and dirt bathing and being social. Watch for the one that stands over the dirt bathing hen and plucks away at her. Or look for the one who sneaks up behind a hen minding her own business and starts plucking feathers from her butt or neck. That's the villain. You can help the problem by installing pinless peepers on her.

 

[Maldugle]

Hello @Maldugle - welcome to BYC

is there one bird in your flock with complete plumage? She may be plucking the others. Read up about feather pecking and see if your circumstances fit that bill. The search button at the top is useful, and @azygous had a thread on it recently.

No they are all losing feathers, some with red bare bottoms, vents are clean ,all eating and laying

 

[Maldugle]

Hmm
What do you feed them? Any treats?
What are the living conditions like, size of enclosure, number of birds?

This is my run and shed, they get fed layer crumble and lettuce leaves and some table scraps