Depluming mites and treating the RUN

[McChooky]

I'm down to 3 brown leghorns after starting with nine chicks.
A predator got one and 4 were re-homed for picking the feathers off their flock mates.Sometimes its a housing issue because certain breeds need more room.The leghorns I have now are very sweet hens.

Edit:
The feather peckers didn't peck the Sapphire Gem or the Australorp hens.They only pecked on their flock mates(same size and breed)

 

[Tracyree]

I'm down to 3 brown leghorns after starting with nine chicks.
A predator got one and 4 were re-homed for picking the feathers off their flock mates.Sometimes its a housing issue because certain breeds need more room.The leghorns I have now are very sweet hens.

Edit:
The feather peckers didn't peck the Sapphire Gem or the Australorp hens.They only pecked on their flock mates(same size and breed)

Ugh. Frustrating!!

I think they have plenty of space. 45 square feet per hen at the moment

 

[McChooky]

I separated my fully feathered leghorns with no broken feathers from the pitiful looking hens and found the culprits

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I would suspect feather picking since that is more common than feather mites. Feather picking is a learned habit that is hard to break and can take place while chickens are on the roost or just standing around. Boredom from not getting outside, too little protein or imbalance in the diet, too much light or heat in the coop, or not enough roost space can be possible causes. Some breeds are more aggressive as well. You could ask your vet or a friend with a microscope to look at feathers under a microscope for tiny mites. When feathers get pulled out, they may not come back in until the next yearly molt. Elector PSP is a good product to use on mites and lice. Ivermectin pour on (5 mg per ml) could also be used at a dosage of 0.1 ml for every 2 pounds of weight on the back of the neck over the spine once and again in 10 days. A thorough coop cleanout and spraying with the Elector PSP or permethrin would be helpful. Hopefully, you can get this figured out. If you see some blue feather shafts growing in after a molt, watch to see if they are pecked out. Reddened skin from irrtation or pecking can lead to more pecking.

I agree, it looks like picking to me.

Any chance you have rodents?

 

[Tracyree]

I agree, it looks like picking to me.

Any chance you have rodents?

No rodents. I have a Smart Coop camera that would
Alert me if it detected rodents

 

[Chicken-newb]

Thank you!!!

Previous feed - natures best organic all flock
Current feed- Kalmbach flock raiser

They get about 2 cups of black
Soldier fly every other day

No roosters.

All started in December. Two hens had palm size wounds under their vents and feathers missing on their rumps. Separated those two until they healed. They remain featherless

Then this late spring two others started getting bald on their rumps. No open wounds.

I took the two top hens with perfect feathers and put them in a separate coop in hopes that was the issue.

Now the two that started loosing in spring are half naked. It’s heartbreaking. I hate to even post how bad it is, it’s embarrassing.

Mine are starting to look like this and I also feed them Sprout layer pellets. I'm curious to see if you figured out your issue.

 

[Tracyree]

Mine are starting to look like this and I also feed them Sprout layer pellets. I'm curious to see if you figured out your issue.

I have not and it’s getting worse.

 

[Chicken-newb]

I have not and it’s getting worse.

Did you do the elector psp treatment?

 

[arazla]

I'm dealing with the same issue so found this thread. We have had our girls separated all summer from the roosters in the hopes they could regrow their feathers in time for winter, but some girls just seem to be getting worse and worse, despite no mating, to the point where it's somewhat embarrassing.

However, I don't see how feather picking and mites are necessarily separate issues. If they're picking their feathers, they may be doing it because they are uncomfortable or in pain. If you do a simple google search on depluming mites for example, here's what you get "parasitic mites that burrow into the feather shafts and surrounding skin of chickens, causing intense itching and irritation that leads birds to pluck out their own feathers, resulting in broken and sparse plumage."

Also, when I look at your pictures, I do think I see some specks. I have a rooster that likes to get pets on my lap and I noticed tiny little specks, no larger than a pencil dot, moving up and down his legs occasionally. At first I thought perhaps it was scaly leg mites and that maybe they are more visible in some cases. But then I followed one of the dots all the way up and sure enough when I parted his tail feathers, I found several of these dots or specs hanging out around his vent.