Abnormal feathers post molt. What’s going on??

I cannot say what exactly would be causing your hen's abnormal feather growth. But I had a Wyandotte several years back who had frightful feather growth. She eventually died from lymphoid leucosis.View attachment 2872199
I’m really sorry about your hen. Wow this is the same breed and sort of similar feathers, this at least gives me something to look into. Can you tell me more about her illness- like was it quick, other symptoms, how she got diagnosed? I do have an avian vet here but I haven’t taken her in for this. She was last seen 2 years ago when her crop wasn’t emptying- which also occurred during a molt. The vet didn’t think it was related but now im starting to look at the bigger picture and wonder if something is an underlying condition.
Also my rooster was euthanized in March due to a strange neurologic condition and almost seizure like activity. The vet thought he could of had a tumor somewhere in the nervous system. We didn’t do a necropsy, but we did do a merick’s test, which what negative. After reading up on avian leukosis I saw that it could be spread through mating. It could be a real possibility.
 
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I cannot say what exactly would be causing your hen's abnormal feather growth. But I had a Wyandotte several years back who had frightful feather growth. She eventually died from lymphoid leucosis.View attachment 2872199
Also do you have cold winters and did she have trouble maintaining warmth? I live in Buffalo, New York and it can get brutally cold here
 
For anyone who comes across this thread in the future, Daisy was diagnosed with Avian leukosis (blood and feather sample taken by vet and run at Cornell). She is on meloxicam for inflammation (she seems to be gimping a bit when she walks). She has lost some weight and her appetite has decreased, but she’s still eating and interacting with the flock, having normal stool and seems alert but less active. At this time her quality of life isn’t too compromised so I will just be keeping an eye on her to see how she does. Not much that can be done otherwise. She is head hen and the others still respect her authority. She is a wonderful and sweet girl who will continued to be spoiled as long as she is with me. The biggest concern is her being able to maintain her warmth during winter without proper feathering, so she will be a house chicken when it’s too cold out.
 
For anyone who comes across this thread in the future, Daisy was diagnosed with Avian leukosis (blood and feather sample taken by vet and run at Cornell). She is on meloxicam for inflammation (she seems to be gimping a bit when she walks). She has lost some weight and her appetite has decreased, but she’s still eating and interacting with the flock, having normal stool and seems alert but less active. At this time her quality of life isn’t too compromised so I will just be keeping an eye on her to see how she does. Not much that can be done otherwise. She is head hen and the others still respect her authority. She is a wonderful and sweet girl who will continued to be spoiled as long as she is with me. The biggest concern is her being able to maintain her warmth during winter without proper feathering, so she will be a house chicken when it’s too cold out.
Sorry to hear this, Im glad you were able to find the cause of the problem, hope shes feeling well today
 
Thank you for updating this thread.

I'm sorry about your girl. I'm sure she knows how much you love her, and that she enjoys the extra attention.

Hugs for both of you. :hugs :hugs
 
This is a very informational thread. Thank you for updating it.

I never knew for certain troublesome molts could be anecdotally linked directly to leucosis, which my flock carries. I've suspected it, but wasn't sure. I've had a number of strange molts among my flock over the years, from radical feather deformities to much more benign cases where first molt was skipped entirely, causing the hen to live another entire year with barely enough feathers to cover her body.

Right now, I have one such hen who should be in her first adult molt but isn't showing any signs of it. She is the lone survivor of four chicks infected vertically by leucosis by an older hen when they were very young chicks. On the other hand, a hen who is only eight months old is now in full adult molt. Neither have any symptoms of LL but they do carry it.

As for the hens in the past that have had pathological molts resulting in severe feather deformities, they lived for a number of years afterward. It's been my experience that the virus kills mostly in the first year, usually from vertical exposure very early in life. Older chickens live mostly normal lives with average life expectancy that were infected horizontally.
 
This is a very informational thread. Thank you for updating it.

I never knew for certain troublesome molts could be anecdotally linked directly to leucosis, which my flock carries. I've suspected it, but wasn't sure. I've had a number of strange molts among my flock over the years, from radical feather deformities to much more benign cases where first molt was skipped entirely, causing the hen to live another entire year with barely enough feathers to cover her body.

Right now, I have one such hen who should be in her first adult molt but isn't showing any signs of it. She is the lone survivor of four chicks infected vertically by leucosis by an older hen when they were very young chicks. On the other hand, a hen who is only eight months old is now in full adult molt. Neither have any symptoms of LL but they do carry it.

As for the hens in the past that have had pathological molts resulting in severe feather deformities, they lived for a number of years afterward. It's been my experience that the virus kills mostly in the first year, usually from vertical exposure very early in life. Older chickens live mostly normal lives with average life expectancy that were infected horizontally.
I'm not trying to hijack this thread, but I think this is possibly related and potentially important. Is it possible something similar happen to my Jessamine, a sexlink I rescued? She didn't molt for over a year after I brought her home. And what feathers she grew were only shafts - kinda like a cactus! BYCers thought her feathers were broken by bullies, but she wasn't getting picked on at all (girlfriend can hold her own!).

Here she is when we first got her:
20200702_173309.jpg


Here she is when she was "molting" several months later:
20210110_140946.jpg


I don't have current pics, but she FINALLY looks good again! She is at the very tail end of a real molt.

I wonder if some virus interfered with her ability to grow feathers. We tried increased protein (I'd bring her in and give her eggs and fish). I had resigned to having Jessamine known forever as "Jess the Mess."
 

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