Chicken with messed up feathers

[livestockchick]

One of my Wyandottes has had messed up feathers for a good three months now.
She is smaller than most of my chickens, but is still fairly healthy. At first, I thought she was just molting, but as time went on, I started to get worried.
About two months ago, I separated her from the other chickens, but she hasn't healed up at all! She is well fed, I give her oyster shell, sand, and whole corn, but nothing is helping her! She is still skinny, despite her being alone, still has messed up feathers, and is still sensitive to touch!
I checked, and she does not have lice or any other parasite. I can't find anything wrong with her. She eats and drinks like a healthy chicken, but isn't healing!
I think she was pecked at by the other chickens, and never healed or something. When I got her from a friend, she had healthy feathers, but now, obviously, doesn't.


Any and all help is appreciated!

 

[PD-Riverman]

One of my Wyandottes has had messed up feathers for a good three months now.
She is smaller than most of my chickens, but is still fairly healthy. At first, I thought she was just molting, but as time went on, I started to get worried.
About two months ago, I separated her from the other chickens, but she hasn't healed up at all! She is well fed, I give her oyster shell, sand, and whole corn, but nothing is helping her! She is still skinny, despite her being alone, still has messed up feathers, and is still sensitive to touch!
I checked, and she does not have lice or any other parasite. I can't find anything wrong with her. She eats and drinks like a healthy chicken, but isn't healing!
I think she was pecked at by the other chickens, and never healed or something. When I got her from a friend, she had healthy feathers, but now, obviously, doesn't.

Any and all help is appreciated!

Not sure----is it possible she has some frizzle genes in her. You know her back ground??

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Looks like molting to me. What are you feeding her? Just the corn? That could be the problem.

 

[jnielsen53]

I have a Wyandotte that also has messed up tail feathers. I have no idea why. Everyone else in the flock is full feathered. She is little and has a scrappy looking tail , been like this for a couple of months now . They all went through a molt in the fall.

 

[livestockchick]

PD-Riverman, I don't think she has frizzle in her, but I am not sure. I do have two frizzle roosters, though

SunHwaKwon, I feed my chickens a mix of layer pellets mixed with corn, along with any fruits and vegetable I get in bulk. They all have a mix of sand and oyster shell, this particular chicken does not seem to want to eat the corn I feed her, though. The rest of the chickens her age, which were in the same batch, haven't molted, and since it has been three months, I don't think she is molting.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

PD-Riverman, I don't think she has frizzle in her, but I am not sure. I do have two frizzle roosters, though

SunHwaKwon, I feed my chickens a mix of layer pellets mixed with corn, along with any fruits and vegetable I get in bulk. They all have a mix of sand and oyster shell, this particular chicken does not seem to want to eat the corn I feed her, though. The rest of the chickens her age, which were in the same batch, haven't molted, and since it has been three months, I don't think she is molting.

Okay. I would not mix in the corn. Layer feed is already low in protein and you are lowering it even more by putting in the corn, plus corn has little nutrition anyway. The main reason it is so popular with livestock is it cheap, not because it is healthy. Give her some more protein to help her through and you should see improvement if it is indeed a molt, which requires a lot of protein. Try giving her some meat scraps or if you are opposed to that at least some egg, mealworms etc to up her protein. Molt can take a long time if they are not getting adequate protein. They can't make new feathers out of nothing!

Have you looked over either of the two to see if there are new feathers coming in?

 

[livestockchick]

Okay, will do. I added the corn because I was told that it adds oils to their diet to help egg-laying in the winter.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Okay, will do. I added the corn because I was told that it adds oils to their diet to help egg-laying in the winter.

Hmm I've never heard that! I figured you were doing it because some people claim it helps keep them warmer in winter (though its another one of the anecdotal things, not proven).

 

[livestockchick]

I heard it here:

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I can't watch videos at work but I did go to her website and immediately see her saying a lot of things as fact that simply aren't true. Of course, anyone can put anything they want on the internet, and somebody is going to believe (and repeat) it.

Like this:

Never ever put new babies in with older hens. The big ones will always beat up the little ones and kill them. When you put chickens together they have to be the same size. Chickens don’t know age they just know size.

Sheesh.