Feather loss, egg eating and lower production

[OliveEggs]

I would love some help with some issues we seem to be having with our hens. Some of them have some feather loss near their tails and a couple have featherless rumps. This is our first year having chickens and we are still learning. Does anyone have any idea why this is happening?
We have also noticed that some eggs are being eaten daily by the hens. How do we stop that? We work during the day and are not available to collect eggs every few hours. The egg counts have dropped from about 12-16 a day to about 8-10. I'm sure partly due to the hens eating some.
Any tips or advice would greatly be appreciated.

 

[Odelia]

First lets start with more information. How old are the chickens? Is there a rooster? How much space do the chickens have? Do you have nesting boxes? How large is your flock?

 

[OliveEggs]

There are 18 hens and no rooster. We just gave him away as he was too aggressive towards us. He bit my husband several times and charged at him. The chickens are around a year old by now, maybe closer to a year and a half. We have 6 nesting boxes and an 8x8 coop with a big run. I can't remember the dimensions of the run.

 

[enola]

If these were my hens I would start by adding calcium and protein to their diets. Have they been wormed and if they were what did you use?

 

[Odelia]

Here is an article on egg eating. Hope it helps.


https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/preventing-egg-eating

 

[whittychick]

Molting perhaps?

 

[Odelia]

A photo might help to determine if it is feather eating, pecking, or molting. With the size of the coop it doesn't sound like crowding so it shouldn't be pecking. There isn't a rooster so the feather loss isn't from breeding. The two most likely are feather eating and molting. If it is feather eating that is usually caused by too little protein in their diet. If you feed them a regular chicken feed that shouldn't be the problem.

 

[OliveEggs]

I will get a picture and post tomorrow. Thank you everyone for your input! I welcome any and all suggestions, tips, and advice!

 

[OliveEggs]

I have tried numerous times to post a picture here of my chickens feather issues from my phone but its not working. Any tips?

 

[cdunmire66]

I am having the same issue....feather loss with 4 of my 5 hens. I have a rooster, but we got him after this problem started (late winter). I tried to boost their protein by giving them sunflower seeds but that has not helped. We have one hen who seems to be the dominant but I cannot tell if she is picking on the others because at times it seems they all pick on each other. The one who lost most of her tail feathers (see 2nd picture), is a little more aggressive. She bites me and sometimes chases me and will act like she is going to flog me. I am at a loss as to what I need to do. Their coop is about 4x4 with plenty of roosting space. They have 4 nesting boxes but only use 1 of them and they are free range all day long.