extreme feather loss

gbodad

Hatching
12 Years
Nov 1, 2007
1
0
7
Hi-I am a relatively new chicken owner. I have a small flock (1 rooster and 4 hens-RI red and araucana-spelling?-cross), all about 16 months old. All have done some molting this summer-I live in the northeast US- but new feathers have grown back quickly. Most of the molting involved the tail and a few feathers around the chest and neck..However, I have one hen (my kids call her Chipmunk) who has lost or plucked 50-60% of her feathers primarily ventrally over a period of a few days. She has been more nervous/skittish lately. She has been eating about 90% of her normal amount (layer pellets and veggies and whatever she gets in the yard-they are free-range during the day). She is near the middle of the pecking order. The flock is isolated from the any other birds and none of the others are showing the same symptoms. They have lived in the same general area with two pet goats for the past year.She does not seem itchy at all. The feather loss seems to happen in the coop at night. The skin looks normal. Could this be normal behavior (i.e., molting) or could this be a medical problem? I am trying to reach my bird vet. Any advice for poor Chippie would be appreciated-it's getting cold and she needs her feathers. Thanks very much gbodad
 

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