Feather Loss

[SweetPeaUt]

Hi, I have 7 chickens all just over 1 yr old. The last two months 5 of them have had significant feather loss on their chests. I've looked for mites/lice on them several times, both during day light hours and night time but have never seen any bugs on them. We did treat them with Poultry Protector and DE but didn't see any improvement (should we treat with something stronger even though I've seen no signs of bugs?) They don't seem to be getting worse except for one who has broken off feathers on her neck. I'm not sure what to do for them. The last month they've also slowed down on their egg production too. I'm at a total loss. I don't know if it's a lack of protein, mites or molting. Any suggestions?

 

[micstrachan]

It could be the start of molt, but that looks like broody chest feather plucking to me. Are any of them sitting on eggs?

 

[SweetPeaUt]

No none of them have been sitting on eggs or seem to be broody at all

 

[ChickNanny13]

2x micstrachan

You ruled out broody but that chest feather loss really does look like it. Do they free range? If so, there maybe a hidden nest ... Broodies do leave the nest periodically.
So they must be molting.

 

[SweetPeaUt]

They do not free range. They have a nice size run but not somewhere to really hide a nest. I wondered about molting but one of our chickens neck feathers definitely looked broken, like maybe she was pulling them out. If it was molting would they all do that at the same time and in the same way (ie feather loss on their chest and necks only)?

 

[micstrachan]

Ah. Then let’s talk about feed. Feather eating can be a sign of protein deficiency. Are they on a complete feed? What % protein does it contain?

 

[SweetPeaUt]

I haven't seen them eating feathers but it definitely looks like they are broken. I'll try to take a picture of her in the morning. I feed them layer pellets with a 16% protein. They occasionally get scratch but definitely not every day and every so often they get dried mealworms. That's about it.

 

[rebrascora]

We are into the season of moult now but if they have been like this for 2 months and are just over a year old I would doubt it is moult and there should be obvious pin feathers by this time if it was and had been going on for that long.
Can you post a flock photo to show the birds and their run and coop?
Do they have a dust bathing area? Have you seen them preening themselves more than usual during this time? What are your roost bars like and how high off the ground.
Where are the feathers predominantly? In the coop under the roosts, in the nest boxes, in the pen, all of those places fairly evenly spread or no trace of the missing feathers, suggesting they have been eaten?

The key will probably be to spend some time with your birds and watch them closely, looking for specific behaviour linked to the feather loss or discomfort. If most of the feathers have been dropping in the coop, under the roost, then it may be mites. If the roost bars are quite low, are they squabbling at roost time and being plucked from below. Do you have plenty of roost space? Have you checked the coop for red mites and do you know what to look for and where? Red mites are tiny. They live and breed in the cracks and crevices of the coop and crawl along the roost bars and onto the chickens at night to suck their blood. The birds' underside would be the first port of call for them. Check any cracks and crevices at the ends of the roost bars. Lift the roost bars out if you can and check the ends and the sockets they sit in for tiny clusters of red speckles and some even smaller off white speckles which are young mites that have not yet fed on blood. I use a soft dustpan brush to sweep any debris from such places onto the dust pan and then tip it onto a sheet of white paper. You should see small red specks moving very slowly on the white paper and if you crush them with the back of your finger nail and you see a smear of blood on the paper, you have mites. The are very common and thrive in the warm summer weather.

If you can get back to us with more info re the above questions and photos of your set up, we will hopefully help you get to the bottom of it.

 

[SweetPeaUt]

We are into the season of moult now but if they have been like this for 2 months and are just over a year old I would doubt it is moult and there should be obvious pin feathers by this time if it was and had been going on for that long.
Can you post a flock photo to show the birds and their run and coop?
Do they have a dust bathing area? Have you seen them preening themselves more than usual during this time? What are your roost bars like and how high off the ground.
Where are the feathers predominantly? In the coop under the roosts, in the nest boxes, in the pen, all of those places fairly evenly spread or no trace of the missing feathers, suggesting they have been eaten?

The key will probably be to spend some time with your birds and watch them closely, looking for specific behaviour linked to the feather loss or discomfort. If most of the feathers have been dropping in the coop, under the roost, then it may be mites. If the roost bars are quite low, are they squabbling at roost time and being plucked from below. Do you have plenty of roost space? Have you checked the coop for red mites and do you know what to look for and where? Red mites are tiny. They live and breed in the cracks and crevices of the coop and crawl along the roost bars and onto the chickens at night to suck their blood. The birds' underside would be the first port of call for them. Check any cracks and crevices at the ends of the roost bars. Lift the roost bars out if you can and check the ends and the sockets they sit in for tiny clusters of red speckles and some even smaller off white speckles which are young mites that have not yet fed on blood. I use a soft dustpan brush to sweep any debris from such places onto the dust pan and then tip it onto a sheet of white paper. You should see small red specks moving very slowly on the white paper and if you crush them with the back of your finger nail and you see a smear of blood on the paper, you have mites. The are very common and thrive in the warm summer weather.

If you can get back to us with more info re the above questions and photos of your set up, we will hopefully help you get to the bottom of it.

Hi, thanks for the reply. l'll try to answer each of your questions the best I can. My birds do not have a specific dust bath area but their run is all dirt and I see them bathing in it regularly. I have not noticed them excessively preening themselves and the feather loss I have seen is just a few feathers inside the coop and a few scattered inside their run. But not a ton. I did mention to another poster that I didn't feel like the feather loss had gotten any worse over the two months except for just one of our girls though. Inside the coop we have two roosting bars, the highest sitting about the feet off the ground. I'm pretty sure there is enough roosting room for them as most the time all 7 sleep on the same bar. We have looked for red mites specifically but mostly at night in hopes of catching them coming out from their hiding spaces. I will try the dust pan trick when I clean out the coop. I posted a bunch of photos to help understand our set up a little better. Thanks for your thoughts and help.

 

[SweetPeaUt]

Does anyone have any suggestions? Any thoughts are appreciated.