Endless molt or something else? (photos included)

[owenm]

First of all, thank you to all the members of this site. Your stories and photos helped spur me to get chicks this spring and build a coop. It's been a wonderful experience so far!

We have 8 hens, two each of Ameraucanas, Buckeyes, Brahmas, and, well, I'm not really sure. All are nearly a year old and all but one are doing well -- they survived some frigid Colorado nights and are back laying after taking some time off. But we have one hen (not sure of breed) who seems to be in an endless molt: lack of feathers and lays eggs with no shell. I thought she would pull through like all the others, but no positive signs just yet after close to 6 weeks in this condition. It hasn't gotten noticeably worse, thought I don't know if it can get much worse. No mites and none of the other hens have any issues that I can tell. Photo of problem hen below, plus a nice shot of my other girls (just to show you that I'm doing something right). Any thoughts? Thanks again for all your inspiration and advice!

 

[Terri O]

WOW! She really is naked! The only time I have seen a bird like that was when it was a self-plucker. Could that be it? Terri O

 

[LovinMyHensInNC!]

Poor thing! I have only gone through two molts with my hens so I am certainly not an expert, but what makes this NOT look like a molt in my opinion is that there are NO signs of feather regrowth. I hope someone more experienced can help your poor girl!

 

[LilBizzy]

That does not look a molt. Has she always been like that, or did it start recently? I know someone has probably seen something like this before, or might have suggestions as to what the problem might be.
In the meantime, Maybe you can knit that hen some pants LOL


Oh, and

 

[owenm]

Thanks for the replies. She's not pecking her feathers or getting pecked by others. She hasn't always been like this -- only the past 4-6 weeks. Should I try a round of tetracycline in the coop water or medicated feed?...

 

[dawg53]

One of my barred rocks lost quite a few feathers back in December due to moult, but it started on top of her head and worked it's way down. She lost all her tail feathers,was bare on her underside,lost most of her wing feathers but not much off her butt and legs. Most of my other hens have had only mini moults. My barred rock's feathers were all grown back out by the end of February and she's been laying eggs daily since. I also brought her in the garage due to our very cold winter,especially January. I put her in a cage where she was fed yogurt,scrambled eggs mixed with layer feed and I put nutra drench in the waterer. I think by providing her with probiotics and vitamins was critical in her "refeathering" especially due to the freezing temps we had. I've heard of moults lasting for several months or more and they wont lay eggs. I think you might want to really do a very close mite/lice inspection with a magnifying glass.
I also recommend you doing what I did with my barred rock. You should also add some crushed oyster shell to their feed to harden up eggshells and maybe add calcium to their feed. Try the oyster shell first.

 

[owenm]

Thanks so much, Dawg! I'll give all of that a try starting tomorrow.

 

[dawg53]

Dont give her antibiotics, I dont see the need for it in this circumstance. Good luck.

 

[OccamsTazer]

One of my roosters did that same exact thing! His was a long stripe from stem to stern.
After a lot of research, we figured out that it was probably a staph infection on his skin. His skin was red and inflamed like it looks to be on your girl.
Each day, I grabbed him, wiped the bare zone thoroughly with disinfectant (iodine soap), then schmeared him with the strongest antibiotic ointment we could get.
After awhile, the white healthy skin zone overtook the red angry skin zone.

He passed away from other causes not long after, but if he hadn't, I think the feathers would have come back, as they were beginning to poke through.

 

[australorpchick]

One of my Australorps, Lynn, looked like that last year. On the bright side, she was quite comfortable during the Texas summer, but I was worried I'd have to make her little sweat pants during the winter, luckily, she molted and everything grew back. I was never quite sure what caused it, stress, parasites? I treated for parasites, and moved everyone to a larger coop and expanded the run. She's the #2 hen and #1's sister, so no one picks on her.