Chickens losing feathers and have scabs

[Rdoyle77]

I have 3 Easter eggers that are all fluffy on their butts like they just have their down feathers and one has scabs are her. They are 7 months old. I did just lose a 9 month old a few weeks ago. She lost all her feathers on her butt. I have been giving them feather fixer food and I have dusted them and the coop several times with DE insect dust. I don't see any bugs on them. Any Ideas?

 

[Eggcessive]

How much room do your chickens have for the amount of birds? What are you feeding? Do they get outside the coop and run to free range? I would think there might be some feather picking going on. This can happen due to over crowding, boredom over not getting outside and getting away from each other, and sometimes from not getting a good balanced layer or all flock feed. 16-20% protein is the minimum, and many of us give too many scraps or treats which can lower the protein and nutritional balance of feed. You can increase protein levels temporarily with chopped egg, rinsed tuna, or chopped meat. Chickens need to be busy during the daylight hours, and the more they get outside, the better. Some breeds can be bullies, so some observation of their habits may be in order.

 

[Rdoyle77]

I only have 4 hens and they have quite a bit of space. I don't let them out any more since i lost one to a predator 2 weeks ago. The reason I'm really worried is that 2 weeks ago one just died, she was losing feathers on her butt. These girls are fully bald like her but are fuzzy like just their down feathers are there. They may be board. I did just give them a bunch of leaves and dirt to dig through today.

 

[Rdoyle77]

I want to get new chicks but don't want to if the big girls have a disease that they could possible give the babies.