Feather Loss?

[Kim1970]

Hello all, my chickens are about a year old and have started to lose some feathers. I looked them over and didnt see any bugs on them.
Is this normal molting?

 

[Zanna]

Do you have a rooster? The feather loss on the back looks like rooster damage, if so you may need to get the girls some saddles............. I suppose it could also be molting. Hopefully someone else will post some ideas.

 

[Kim1970]

No roosters.

 

[Kim1970]

My coop has pine shaving floor which I am doing the deep litter method with.
They get fresh water every day.
I feed them Layena crumbles, give them oyster shells (but probably not often enough) and their run is dirt.
I also feed them all sorts of table scraps/leftovers.

Their poo kinda looks like a pudding blob with white on top.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[sonew123]

molting-the new feathers are coming in from what I can see from the photos-some girls get a slight molt and you almost never notice they are going through it-except for egg counts being down. Others will go through it and look almost neked! Half of mine are like that now and I KNOW they dont have mites or lice as they were just treated a few weeks ago and I check them alot. Yours looks like a mild molt

 

[Mattemma]

The only other issue I can think of is feather picking due to protien need and/or boredom. I am going through that with my hens. I read to add some BOSS to the diet.My girls are so far ignoring the seed.You can add other extra protien like calfmana or fish.

 

[Kim1970]

Thank you

 

[HuttonFarm]

Hi Kim,

Did you ever figure out what the problem was with your chicken? Did the feathers come back? I'm having this problem with my chickens right now and I'm trying to figure out what is wrong. Looks just like your pictures. any help is appreciated!! I need to get some feathers on these poor birds before winter or they will end up in my basement!

Thank you,
Kelly

 

[kittycooks]

The pictures look like molting to me. I've had birds molt in December! Some birds do a partial molt - intensive on one part of the body. I've currently got a silkie hen with a full molt -she lost all feathers except her "underwear" feathers. I also have two buff orphingtons with belly/bottom molt. The molting process happens every five-six months and re-sets the hormones involved in egg laying. You don't have to worry about keeping them warm - they seem to adjust to the weather just fine.

 

[HuttonFarm]

I wish it were just molting but they've been like this most of this year

I've tried treating for mites but it hasn't seemed to work. I don't see anyone pecking at each other and my rooster doesn't pluck their feathers that I know of. I haven't seen him grab anything but the neck feathers. I don't know what to do now because when it gets to be winter up here shortly they are going to have a hard time and I don't want them to get frostbite or die. I will probably have to put up more heat lamps which I know isn't very healthy for them. I just don't know what to do