Chicken Breaking All Her Feathers :( HELP

[MadelineT]

I have 8 hens that are 10 months old. They are all looking AWFUL. Feathers around the base of their tail/back are all broken, wing and tail feathers starting to have the “fluffy” part eaten off.. it’s awful. But one chicken looks like every single feather on her body has been eaten/broken off and she seems to be the one doing it. I feed a high protein feed (18-20%) and give black oil sunflower seeds and meal worms daily. They have fresh water daily as well. I’ve gone out to the coop at night several times to check for lice and mites with a flashlight and haven’t seen a thing. Vents look good. I’ve struggled with this now for months and I can’t find anyone who has the same situation. Could this simply be boredom? They are in an 8x12 covered run for the 8 of them and have a 4x8 coop with lots of roosting levels. All of the birds are great layers, they just have the worst looking feathers of any flock I’ve seen.

 

[CluckerFamily]

Are they laying eggs?
What is the season where you live?

 

[MadelineT]

Are they laying eggs?
What is the season where you live?

Yes all laying great. We are just going into spring.

 

[TOPChickens14]

I have sort of the same issue. All my chickens had dirty rough looking feathers. And a chicken that has looked awful for months upon months now. I keep her in the house and don't really expect her to get better. The other chickens however have all gotten better after they molted. How much scratch do you feed them and do they ever run out of food?

 

[coach723]

Can you post some pictures of the birds?

 

[TOPChickens14]

had*

 

[MadelineT]

I have sort of the same issue. All my chickens had dirty rough looking feathers. And a chicken that has looked awful for months upon months now. I keep her in the house and don't really expect her to get better. The other chickens however have all gotten better after they molted. How much scratch do you feed them and do they ever run out of food?

They never run out of food, and I give scratch every couple of days. Daily I give meal worms and black oil sunflower seeds.

 

[Chicken Momma 27]

Do you see them picking their feathers and eating them?

 

[MadelineT]

Do you see them picking their feathers and eating them?

More like excessive preening. They don't "eat" them but they excessively preen around their tails and wings. But again, I've checked for mites and lice and can't see them. I have had chickens for 4-5 years and they always seem to have this issue. I took about a 9 month break from having chickens and then got this new flock as chicks (10 months old) and they have the SAME issues as my previous flock. They even seem to be plucking out tail feathers around their oil gland.

 

[Chicken Momma 27]

More like excessive preening. They don't "eat" them but they excessively preen around their tails and wings. But again, I've checked for mites and lice and can't see them. I have had chickens for 4-5 years and they always seem to have this issue. I took about a 9 month break from having chickens and then got this new flock as chicks (10 months old) and they have the SAME issues as my previous flock. They even seem to be plucking out tail feathers around their oil gland

I've had chickens for about 5 years also. I had researched and read a lot about plucking feathers about 5 months ago because for the first time, one of my girls started doing it. I originally thought she was only plucking, but after reading the information and a taking closer look at what she was doing, I realized she was plucking and eating them. She was receiving high protein food as well as mealworms. However, I was also giving her a fair amount of bread because she loves it so much. Unfortunately, I had to take away her bread for the most part, but it did stop once I did. Good luck.