Chicken Lethargic, Full Crop In the Morning, No Appetite- Help.

[ChickenPeep]

pwand, so far today she has eaten plain yogurt, feed, "feather fixer" feed (for molting), and lots of sunflower seeds for protein. Her crop feels full and hard just like her sisters' crops are. She has been interested in food and has been pooping. She is active, but she's still lethargic and not quite herself. :/
She has literally been 'dumping' feathers. I don't know if she's molting or stressed. Today she found her way upstairs and onto the carpet. I took a picture of the area where she was preening. This is how many feathers she dropped in the 3 minutes she was there.

I also noticed that her rear was blotchy red. Is this normal?

Here is what her back looks like. It's BARREN!

 

[ChickenPeep]

cheep cheep, thank you so much for all the wonderful information! It's really nice to hear from someone with experience. I'm sorry that you lost several hens to this issue, but I'm glad to hear that you've had one recover too!

I am exposing her to natural light patterns. I have an automatic light that turns on at 6:50am and off at 7pm.

 

[pwand]

pwand, so far today she has eaten plain yogurt, feed, "feather fixer" feed (for molting), and lots of sunflower seeds for protein. Her crop feels full and hard just like her sisters' crops are. She has been interested in food and has been pooping. She is active, but she's still lethargic and not quite herself. :/
She has literally been 'dumping' feathers. I don't know if she's molting or stressed. Today she found her way upstairs and onto the carpet. I took a picture of the area where she was preening. This is how many feathers she dropped in the 3 minutes she was there.

I also noticed that her rear was blotchy red. Is this normal?

Here is what her back looks like. It's BARREN!

She is molting. Looks like some of her feathers have also been pecked off. Her feathers dropping of her is normal through the molting process. The redness can happen when their skin gets exposed. When the feathers come back in, her skin will go back to normal.

 

[ChickenPeep]

Well that's a relief! I was worried she was losing feathers due to an underlying disease. Yesterday when I ran my fingers over her back feathers would come out under my fingers. I could see the 'pores' (I can think of a better word to describe them) where the feathers enter the skin. Today there are already tiny pin feathers sticking out of the pores!
Her crop was empty this morning. She was really hungry and ate a lot of feed and seeds and drank some water. She seems to be doing really well.

 

[cheep cheep]

That's wonderful news. Your lovely Ebony 'gets to live another day'. (That's a saying, not literal) I remember once when one of my very first hens molted for the first time, she almost completely lost all her feathers before starting to grow any new ones and once the quils started growing she looked like a hedgehog and then like a hedgehog with tiny little paint brushes sticking out of her! It was so funny. Well I'm glad all is well now, they do worry us at times don't they. Best of luck.

 

[pwand]

Glad to hear she is doing well.

 

[ChickenPeep]

Cheep cheep, that is too funny! She does look a lot like a porcupine especially on her back. It's really funny!
Is it normal for them to be tired and lethargic while molting? Whenever she goes outside she just stands in the sun and doesn't move a whole lot.