Chicken Losing Feathers?

[Claudettebillie]

We have 11 chickens, and one of them doesn't seem to be doing so well. We have 3 silkie bantams, 2 production reds, 3 production blacks, and 3 Rhode Island reds. One of the silkies is a rooster. All of them have been doing well, but one of the Rhode Island reds is losing fur on her lower back, right above her tail feathers. This has been going on for about a month, but now she's losing feathers on her neck. I knew that roosters usually will climb onto the hens' backs to mate with them, so I thought that maybe she was losing feathers from that, but now that she's losing them on her neck, we're worrying. My parents went in and said that they think they saw blood in the nest box, too.

Is there anything we can do to help her? What's going on with her? She's around 10 months old if I remember correctly. We used to have another rooster, but the two didn't get along. We kept the docile rooster, and I can't imagine why he would terrorize her so much and leave the others alone. We live in Northern Maine and it gets cold and snowy here, so they are only let outside depending on the weather, which can be anywhere from 1-7 times a week. It can't be from being stuck inside or anything like that, though, because no one else is having the same issues as her, not even her sisters.

 

[Kevin565]

Could the other hens be feather picking?

 

[yolkoroo]

How do her legs look? Any signs of redness? Or, how do the feathers look ar rhe base or the shaft of the feathers?

 

[yolkoroo]

Oh, and is the skin red or normally colored? It could be that she is mounting, which is natural, but if you saw blood for sure, not normal.

 

[RonB]

We have 11 chickens, and one of them doesn't seem to be doing so well. We have 3 silkie bantams, 2 production reds, 3 production blacks, and 3 Rhode Island reds. One of the silkies is a rooster. All of them have been doing well, but one of the Rhode Island reds is losing fur on her lower back, right above her tail feathers. This has been going on for about a month, but now she's losing feathers on her neck. I knew that roosters usually will climb onto the hens' backs to mate with them, so I thought that maybe she was losing feathers from that, but now that she's losing them on her neck, we're worrying. My parents went in and said that they think they saw blood in the nest box, too.

Is there anything we can do to help her? What's going on with her? She's around 10 months old if I remember correctly. We used to have another rooster, but the two didn't get along. We kept the docile rooster, and I can't imagine why he would terrorize her so much and leave the others alone. We live in Northern Maine and it gets cold and snowy here, so they are only let outside depending on the weather, which can be anywhere from 1-7 times a week. It can't be from being stuck inside or anything like that, though, because no one else is having the same issues as her, not even her sisters.

sounds like she might be molting. but 10 months is a little young to molt. some molts are harder ( lose more feathers) then others. if she keeps losing more, molting would be my guess

 

[yolkoroo]

Yes, I am sorry, I meant to type molting...auto correct! As long as not accompanied by blood. Keep an eye on her, if continued loss, then likely molt..any signs of abuse by another bird or lethargy, separate her, give electrolytes and look for additional diagnostic signs.

 

[Claudettebillie]

Thanks so much everyone!

The skin is really red where the feathers have been lost. Hopefully it's just molting. Now that I think of it, it does seem like she still has a lot of down feathers, or like the "undercoat" for a lack of better words in some places where she's not bare.

I can try to get a photo of it today if you guys think that would help?