Feather loss

[Girl4Chickens]

My rir chicken Marge has lost all her feathers. I started to notice early spring lots of feather loss and found out we had a mite infestation. All of that had been gone for a few months and she seemed to be getting better but now it’s going down hill. Our winter is coming it’s snowed yesterday and I’m super worried about her. Any ideas

 

[sourland]

Is she the only bird in the flock that looks like that? To me it looks like flock mates are feather pecking/plucking her.

 

[coach723]

Do you see pin feathers coming in anywhere? The initial feather loss from mites would not likely fill in until she molts, and if she's currently molting then she may look worse before she looks better. If she has pin feathers, she's molting. It can take a while. They usually do fine, some birds molt in the coldest part of winter, it's not an exact thing, it's whenever their body says to. Upping the protein in the diet a little can help with feather growth, so when giving treats try to make them higher protein ones rather than carbs.

 

[coach723]

I do see what looks like a lot of broken feathers, and a bare spot on the back of her head. The picture is not clear enough for me to see pin feathers. The bare spot on the back of her head is probably from the roosters when they mount. You may have feather picking going on as well as the other things. Often it happens on the roosts at night when they are wrestling for roost space.

 

[Girl4Chickens]

Do you see pin feathers coming in anywhere? The initial feather loss from mites would not likely fill in until she molts, and if she's currently molting then she may look worse before she looks better. If she has pin feathers, she's molting. It can take a while. They usually do fine, some birds molt in the coldest part of winter, it's not an exact thing, it's whenever their body says to. Upping the protein in the diet a little can help with feather growth, so when giving treats try to make them higher protein ones rather than carbs.

Ok because it looks worse than before and it does look like pin feathers. So you’re probably right thank you!!

 

[Girl4Chickens]

Is she the only bird in the flock that looks like that? To me it looks like flock mates are feather pecking/plucking her.

There are others but not like her they just have a few missing. There are two roosters but they don’t act bad and she is like the chicken who pecks everyone so she isn’t at the bottom.

 

[All4Eggz]

I looked closer, and it's probably caused from other hens or roosters (mating).
Molting could also play a role in the feather loss.

 

[Outer limit]

Do you see pin feathers coming in anywhere? The initial feather loss from mites would not likely fill in until she molts, and if she's currently molting then she may look worse before she looks better. If she has pin feathers, she's molting. It can take a while. They usually do fine, some birds molt in the coldest part of winter, it's not an exact thing, it's whenever their body says to. Upping the protein in the diet a little can help with feather growth, so when giving treats try to make them higher protein ones rather than carbs.

 

[Outer limit]

Thanks for sharing your wisdom. This is helpful information

 

[All4Eggz]

How old is she?

It looks like she's molting. Once chickens turn 1 yr old, they usually molt every following autumn and grow back new, clean, better looking, feathers.

If she's more than a year old, I would expect her to be molting.