Feather Regrowth

[Tropical Chickies]

I just bought a black marans and she is missing loads of feathers. How long does it take to grow back? I have raised the protein level of the crumbles and bought avia charge 2000, also giving crimped sour oats and regular crimped oats.

Any other suggestions??

 

[dawg53]

What caused the feather loss? A rooster, lice/mites. moult? I hope you have her quarantined from your chickens. Inspect her closely for mites/lice. Feathers will grow back after a moult.

 

[Pam Allan]

I've got an australorps hen that the rooster has "defeathered". It's been weeks - do the feathers grow back or is she bald for life? And I've heard you can buy "hen aprons" for this problem - is that true and where do you get them. In about 4 months it's going to start getting cold and if she doesn't have her feathers back she's going to get really uncomfortable.

 

[Tropical Chickies]

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I haven't seen any traces of mites/lice. I believe it is from pecking...the person I got her from didn't have adequate space in their coop and run.

 

[Tropical Chickies]

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Yes, you can get aprons for them. I have heard there is a member on here who makes them, but I am not sure what the member's name is. I am hoping it doesn't take months for feathers to grow back!

 

[Morgan7782]

I've heard BOSS (Black oil sunflower seeds) are good for feather regrowth for moulting and such. I would give that a try!

 

[Pam Allan]

Just in the 2-3 days since I posted my girl is starting to show a "5 o'clock shadow" on her back. It looks like the feathers are starting to come back in. And they do eat a lot of black oil sunflower - I feed wild birds and the chickens are always under the feeder waiting for seed to fall.
I would still like to invest in the hen apron if I can find someone who makes them.