feather loss after injury

[cruisnmoma]

This is my first post, although I do read the threads sometimes.

1 of our chickens was torn up by a my son's friends dog. He got into the yard where the chickens free range. We had to take her to the vet. She had a lot of stitches, and lost a lot of feathers from the attack. She is healing up, had the stitches out, but we are keeping her away from the other chickens till she is stronger and her feathers come back.

Well a lot of the feathers have started to fill in, but she seems to be molting...big time. she is really loosing a lot of feathers. she is looking scrawny and bald. Is it normal for them to loose a lot of feathers if they are trying to grow back new ones after something like this? She lost most of them from her wings down, belly and back.

 

[gander007]

Welcome to BYC,,,, Yes do to stress molting is a natural process
of healing just keep your chicken worm and let her heal and keeping
her away from the other chickens is the best idea ever ......
Good luck with your chicken .......

gander007

 

[Wyandottes7]

She is probably molting because of the stress of the dog attack. Stress, like that from a dog attack, period without food/water, mean birds, etc can cause chickens to go into a molt. She should recover from the molt in a month or two, with a new set of feathers.

 

[cruisnmoma]

Thanks, We had a lot of snow last week, so she has not been outside at all. She is staying in a sun room with a small coop. We have been letting her out for a few hrs to bug and eat the grass. She has also been spending time with 2 of the other girls. When they see her out they try to get over the fence. So we let them in with her, they seem to get along just fine. 2 of the others just go after her. She is still not strong enough to deal with it. Now with the unusual cold and feather loss, we don't want her to have to fight to get her place back just yet. I know they molt, but this is really extreme, and started as the new feathers were coming in.

 

[gander007]

Sounds like you are dealing with the situation correctly
and the molting is just a part of it just keep her warm
and safe and maybe a little warm rice or oatmeal .....

gander007