Chicken feather losing mystery...

[KerriChick]

My 9 month old cuckoo marans is losing feathers. She is too young to moult, correct? I have checked her for signs of mites or lice and she looks clean. She also seems a bit slower and slightly less alert. She is not wheezy or breathing weird, all seems well there. She is still doing all her chicken things with the flock, and her feather loss is not huge, just finding them dotted about the yard. She stopped laying about 3 weeks ago but I figured it was just her winter laycation(she was our first layer). She was my lead hen but appears to be losing some ground in that department due to her current slowpokery. Maybe it’s just stress and/or feather picking from pecking order squabbles? Our 4 girls are generally pretty peaceful and a tight flock that take good care of each other with few issues, maybe the occasional heated game of keep away during treat time lol. I just don't want to be missing a signal of a sick chicken etc. Thoughts? I can post a photo but she doesn’t look all that different than normal.

 

[TinaMarieofFL]

Could be her first moult, that would explain the feather loss and decreased egg production. For now I wouldn't be too concerned.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Yes, it's possible she's moulting.

 

[KerriChick]

Could be her first moult, that would explain the feather loss and decreased egg production. For now I wouldn't be too concerned.

That was def my first thought, but I just thought she was too young. She does seem to do things on her own schedule in general so maybe she’s an early moulter?