Chickens losing feathers due to a skin disease or just molting?

[Aapomp831]

Update: Been watching them today and the dominant hen is picking at the hen in question but only when she dust bathes, and one of the other hens is going at a different hen as well, does anyone know what it means or how to stop it ?

How much space do they have?
I would suggest setting up two separate feeding / watering stations. Hens usually fight to be dominant over food and resources. However, if you notice one hen worse than the others and is causing injury to other hens, that behavior needs to be corrected immediately. I would put her in chicken jail for a few days. That can really do the trick sometimes.

 

[DoubleYolk123]

What do you feed?

I feed them layer pellets that they have access to 24/7, a “treat food” made of cracked corn, a few other seeds and grit, as well as peas, sweet corn, chopped carrot and whatever they find in the garden when we let them out, which we try to do atleast every couple of days.

 

[DoubleYolk123]

How much space do they have?
I would suggest setting up two separate feeding / watering stations. Hens usually fight to be dominant over food and resources. However, if you notice one hen worse than the others and is causing injury to other hens, that behavior needs to be corrected immediately. I would put her in chicken jail for a few days. That can really do the trick sometimes.

It isn’t a perfect shape so I’m not too sure, but it’s roughly just over 2 metres wide and 2.5 metres long, plus a little extra on the side.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I feed them layer pellets that they have access to 24/7, a “treat food” made of cracked corn, a few other seeds and grit, as well as peas, sweet corn, chopped carrot and whatever they find in the garden when we let them out, which we try to do atleast every couple of days.

Grit is always a good thing to provide for chickens but layer pellets are only 16% crude protein. That's about minimum for good egg production, body and immune system maintenance.
Mixing in corn (8% protein), carrots (1% protein) and other seeds, you can see how quickly the protein can drop below what is needed. They might be craving animal protein causing them to eat feathers.
You could try a little treat of animal protein each day for a week and see if the behavior changes. Any meat, fish, poultry or insect protein will do. I add fishmeal to my food and use canned mackerel.

 

[DoubleYolk123]

Grit is always a good thing to provide for chickens but layer pellets are only 16% crude protein. That's about minimum for good egg production, body and immune system maintenance.
Mixing in corn (8% protein), carrots (1% protein) and other seeds, you can see how quickly the protein can drop below what is needed. They might be craving animal protein causing them to eat feathers.
You could try a little treat of animal protein each day for a week and see if the behavior changes. Any meat, fish, poultry or insect protein will do. I add fishmeal to my food and use canned mackerel.

Okay thanks I will have to give it a try, I heard dog food or cat food can be given for protein ? I have a dog so that seems to easiest to give and I have noticed the amount of insects they find seems to be going down as the summer ends

 

[Aapomp831]

I would not feed them the cracked corn treat mix regularly. That should be va treat only, and in limited amounts. If they are filling up in carbs, they are not going to be interested in their layer feed as much... kinda like giving a toddler a choice between French fries or broccoli. The only time you want to add a little more of a carb like corn into their diet is during the cold winter months; digesting the corn helps to stimulate internal heat and help them warm.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Okay thanks I will have to give it a try, I heard dog food or cat food can be given for protein ? I have a dog so that seems to easiest to give and I have noticed the amount of insects they find seems to be going down as the summer ends

People do that but I wouldn't. Not all cat and dog food is high in protein. I have a stack of canned cat food in my pantry that is 11% protein. That would make matters worse.
Plus, they are formulated with a nutrient balance intended for mammalian carnivores, not avian omnivores.
The easiest thing is to just provide some animal protein straight away. In the US, canned mackerel is the cheapest source of high quality animal protein they will eat.
For insects, you can go with crickets or mealworms.
Chickens will quickly consume most of the animal protein in a forage area and now that summer is almost over, it will be virtually nonexistent.

 

[Halfpasthen]

People do that but I wouldn't. Not all cat and dog food is high in protein. I have a stack of canned cat food in my pantry that is 11% protein. That would make matters worse.
Plus, they are formulated with a nutrient balance intended for mammalian carnivores, not avian omnivores.
The easiest thing is to just provide some animal protein straight away. In the US, canned mackerel is the cheapest source of high quality animal protein they will eat.
For insects, you can go with crickets or mealworms.
Chickens will quickly consume most of the animal protein in a forage area and now that summer is almost over, it will be virtually nonexistent.

You have to calculate wet food vs. dry kibble differently bc of the moisture content.

 

[DoubleYolk123]

People do that but I wouldn't. Not all cat and dog food is high in protein. I have a stack of canned cat food in my pantry that is 11% protein. That would make matters worse.
Plus, they are formulated with a nutrient balance intended for mammalian carnivores, not avian omnivores.
The easiest thing is to just provide some animal protein straight away. In the US, canned mackerel is the cheapest source of high quality animal protein they will eat.
For insects, you can go with crickets or mealworms.
Chickens will quickly consume most of the animal protein in a forage area and now that summer is almost over, it will be virtually nonexistent.

I’ve given them so cooked chicken since that’s what we’re having for dinner today, and tomorrow I need to go buy locust for my lizard so I will pick up some mealworms or crickets too x

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It is still not chicken feed and why provide food intended for mammals when the simplest thing is to just give animal protein?

You have to calculate wet food vs. dry kibble differently bc of the moisture content.