feather lose

Blue Farm

In the Brooder
7 Years
Dec 1, 2012
24
1
22
Nebraska
Just looking for some answers. my chickens are losing feather around there rear ends. even my rooster , I recentally switched feeds , will this have that effect, are is it just molt. i added purina flock raiser along with my layer feed to increase there protien, bad idea are will they get better in time.thanks
 
Nope it was a good idea to raise the protein. Mine just molted so that is probably it. Just to be sure though I would check for mites!
 
Sounds like one of your girls is a feather plucker. Do you have a hen or few, untouched hens running around? A common habit to make up for the nutrients is to pull or pluck out the feathers from the butt area. 1. because the other hen is turned around, less reaction time to stop the nips. 2 .the finest feathers are located around the butt and are easy pickins. See if you notice butt pecking.
Because you indicated the rooster as well that makes me think more of a butt pecker hen... If you see it going on separate the hen from the rest for about a week if you can and if you can't try to see if your feed supplier has spray called stop-pek or something like that. I am from eastern Canada and the names for half the meds and stuff are so different...
Good luck with the breezie butts... Steve
 
ok i will look for mites, are these mites similiar to ones that would show up on all animals. and will a powder treat them. thanks
 
thanks , Steve come to think of it i have a production red hen who looks great, i did see all my girls butt pecking a month ago , a old chicken farmer i grew up with told me there looking for more protien,I added a higher protien feed but bald butts are emerging. will seperate misses clean and try that . thanks again
 

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