Chicken lost most feathers - seems like more than molting?

[jenniferrose]

Ameraucana who is 2 years and a few months old. She has always been a very small bird so hard to tell if she has lost any weight and I am not picking her up as I know the pin feathers can be very painful to them.

She was broody for about a month or so. We would pull her out and she would eat and drink but not much. About a week ago we finally broke her and she started coming back out. At that time she still appeared to have all or most of her feathers. A few days ago I noticed a ton of feathers in the coop and assumed some of the flock started molting (we have 19 girls). As of yesterday she looks like this (pics below). Don't see any mites or anything on her skin. Some of the other girls were picking at her yesterday so my daughter kept her kind of isolated. She happily was eating food pellets from my daughters hand and drank a little bit. She went up with the flock at bedtime (we were planning to keep her in but then couldn't reach her once she went up) and snuggled up next to another big bird. This morning she was shaking (I assume cold - its about 40* here at night/early morning). We brought her in the house and have her in a cage now. She ate a bit this morning.

Thoughts? Advice? My husband (stay at home dad and loves his girls) is convinced he is going to watch her die.

 

[ChickenGirl555]

Ameraucana who is 2 years and a few months old. She has always been a very small bird so hard to tell if she has lost any weight and I am not picking her up as I know the pin feathers can be very painful to them.

She was broody for about a month or so. We would pull her out and she would eat and drink but not much. About a week ago we finally broke her and she started coming back out. At that time she still appeared to have all or most of her feathers. A few days ago I noticed a ton of feathers in the coop and assumed some of the flock started molting (we have 19 girls). As of yesterday she looks like this (pics below). Don't see any mites or anything on her skin. Some of the other girls were picking at her yesterday so my daughter kept her kind of isolated. She happily was eating food pellets from my daughters hand and drank a little bit. She went up with the flock at bedtime (we were planning to keep her in but then couldn't reach her once she went up) and snuggled up next to another big bird. This morning she was shaking (I assume cold - its about 40* here at night/early morning). We brought her in the house and have her in a cage now. She ate a bit this morning.

Thoughts? Advice? My husband (stay at home dad and loves his girls) is convinced he is going to watch her die. View attachment 1170136 View attachment 1170137

Oh my gosh I have never seen a chicken like that, and I know this isn't helpful but I don't think it's molting. usually they keep more feathers on one part of their body than THAT!

 

[WhiteWyan]

One of our chickens recently molted like that. Went almost completely naked. She looks better now.

 

[josebeth1]

Nah, I've got lots in my flock who get like that at this time of year! Pick her up carefully and feel if she's got some meat on her, especially around the keel. If you're still worried about her, I always do my deworming at this time, while they're moulting and laying very few eggs since we can't eat them anyway till 10 days after the last dose. Plus, you can always give her some treats like hard boiled egg for some added protein/calorie boost. My 3 Delawares looked particularly ridiculous this year--happily, everybody's starting to come back to looking decent now

 

[Birdinhand]

I think what you are seeing is a hard molt, I have not experienced it directly in my flock but have seen lots of somewhat similar pictures and some pretty sorry birds in person over the years. if that were from a predator attack or from pecking, you'd see injury. I would be cautious about bringing her inside, that might throw off the development of an adequate winter coat. Perhaps close up the roost area more than usual to get it to retain more heat and cut down on drafts. make sure to clean it out and keep it free of droppings/free of ammonia though, that can kill. a higher protein diet may help seed things up. In a few weeks, god willing and the creek don't rise, she should have some feathers coming along. it's just amazing in a way that they can survive such a thing!

 

[josebeth1]

If you're going to keep her in to protect her from the flock for a while, then bring in a gentle buddy--she'll get way too depressed alone........

 

[N F C]

I've had a couple that used to go through really hard molts. Here's a past contest with lots of molting photos...some pretty miserable looking birds there:
official-byc-contest-post-your-best-worst-chicken-molt-pics.1197023

There are some good links to check out regarding molting in the first post of that thread, maybe they will give your DH some relief

 

[Chickassan]

Hey! I think I've got your chickens sister,and yes they molt really hard. Here is Susan early on,it got worse before it got better and now she's close to normal.