Chicken Pulling out all its feathers!

[birdwrangler057]

http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/y-tex-gardstar-garden-poultry-dust-shaker-can-2-lb

De is cheaper.

That stuff is expensive!

 

[Isaac 0]

Yep.It lasted me one night with ten chickens.

 

[birdwrangler057]

Yep.It lasted me one night with ten chickens.

Wow!

 

[Isaac 0]

But that one time sucked the juice out of those critters and i never had a problem again.

 

[birdwrangler057]

But that one time sucked the juice out of those critters and i never had a problem again.

That's good.

 

[BantamLover21]

She is probably molting, which is a normal occurrence that could take anywhere from a few weeks to several months to complete. Another possibility is that other birds are picking at her feathers; to help rule this out, I would observe the flock (especially when they're roosting) for signs of picking.

Treating for mites is a good idea, too. There is a lot of controversy surrounding DE and whether it consistently works, so I would recommend a different mite treatment, like Sevin dust or poultry dust/pymethrin. I've used DE in the past, and it didn't seem to work at all. Some people (as evidenced by other responders to this thread) do have success with DE, though, and it can be a decent preventative measure when it comes to external parasites.