Bullying or molting?

[Hunt4lif3]

I have 4 RIR hens that are all just about a year old now. When I first got them they all seemed to be laying. About 2 months ago the laying stopped completely. There were quite a few feathers in the coop and I just assumed they were molting. I never really noticed any bald spots on any of them except for 1. 2 of my hens are back to laying and only 1 of them still looks kinda rough. The rough looking one is missing feathers on her head and neck, but pin feathers are coming in in the bald spots. I noticed that the end of her wing feathers are all broken, is this a sign of bullying or just part of the molt. I have seen the other girls pick on her and she stays away from the rest of them most of the time as well. I wish I could figure this out, any ideas?

 

[TwoCrows]

Generally with molting, there are pin feathers all over the body. Not just one tiny area. So look them over really good. If you see other areas of the body that have lots of pin feathers, then it is molting. If it is only a few small spots with only a few pin feathers and there are a LOT of broken feathers around the pin feathers, I might be bullying.

 

[TwoCrows]

Oh, and welcome to BYC!

 

[teach1rusl]

I would GUESS she's just molting, since you're seeing pin feathers coming in. I know some of my birds old feathers are easily broken off by the time molting season rolls around each year. If her comb doesn't have pecked places on it, then I'd say just molting. I hope that's the case...

 

[Hunt4lif3]

Ok, I'll look her over really good tomorrow afternoon and try to get some pictures of what I'm talking about. Thanks for the responses so far!

 

[Hunt4lif3]

Here are a few pictures of her. I forgot to check the rest of her body for pin feathers, but I thunk the broken feathers in her wings are from being clipped. It's all the primaries except for the last 2 on each wing. I hope the pictures show enough for y'all to see what's going on.

 

[TwoCrows]

Here are a few pictures of her. I forgot to check the rest of her body for pin feathers, but I thunk the broken feathers in her wings are from being clipped. It's all the primaries except for the last 2 on each wing. I hope the pictures show enough for y'all to see what's going on.

Yes, that is molting. The pin feathers coming in, the pale, whitish comb....all signs of molting.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Yep, that's molting.

 

[Hunt4lif3]

Well that makes me feel a lot better. I was worried that she was being bullied because she kind of stays away from the others and is looking pretty rough. But if she's just molting, then I guess there's nothing I can do about it. Thanks again for the replies!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Well that makes me feel a lot better. I was worried that she was being bullied because she kind of stays away from the others and is looking pretty rough. But if she's just molting, then I guess there's nothing I can do about it. Thanks again for the replies!

You can give her high protein treats to help her grow in her new feathers. It's normal for them to be a bit reclusive while molting.