Feathers Missing on Necks

[ChickenLady2014]

Possible, especially since you can clearly see new feathers coming in. As I understand it they only regrow feathers during a molt? Also, since the only two who have this are Rhode Islands, perhaps it's something with their breed which caused them to do a light molt?

They could have a flock mate that is helping them lose a few too. If you notice any blood, I would suspect a dominate hen picking their feathers. Best of luck with your ladies

 

[vitanonest]

We've honestly never noticed any aggression. If anything, it's one of the Rhode Islands who we might consider alpha. She's the one who gets all the snacks and pushes everyone out of the way when we enter the run to be first in line...but still never pecks anyone...and never noticed any blood or red spots.

To be safe, we're going to add a few perches and another flock block to entertain them. We have also been considering a higher protein diet. They get a LOT of table scraps, mostly greens, and we give them all the garden waste. I'm worried with all the greens they eat and only a 16% layer formula, they may not be getting enough protein?

 

[Alaskan]

We've honestly never noticed any aggression. If anything, it's one of the Rhode Islands who we might consider alpha. She's the one who gets all the snacks and pushes everyone out of the way when we enter the run to be first in line...but still never pecks anyone...and never noticed any blood or red spots.

To be safe, we're going to add a few perches and another flock block to entertain them. We have also been considering a higher protein diet. They get a LOT of table scraps, mostly greens, and we give them all the garden waste. I'm worried with all the greens they eat and only a 16% layer formula, they may not be getting enough protein?

I agree that a higher protein diet would help. You should be able to find a layer that is 18%.

From the photo it does clearly look like feathers are being chewed.

 

[vitanonest]

Here is another photo I meant to post. I'm hoping it's just a light molt. They are still laying as we're getting 12 eggs a day out of 12 chickens.

They are nearly out of food so I'll find a higher protein feed for a bag or two to see how they do.

 

[Alaskan]

if a feather is pulled out all of the way, then a new feather grows in. It doesn't matter if it is time to molt or not.

Molt just means that feathers fall out on their own (without being pulled out), and are then replaced.

The skin looks very healthy, so I would guess probably not parasites.

Your coop is a bit small for 12 hens, and some of the growing feathers have clear indication of being chewed.

So... I would think yes, someone is chewing on the 2 Rhode Island hens (or someones).

A higher protein feed will hopefully help. However, if it has already become an ingrained habit, those 2 might need to be separated until their feathers grow back, or be rehomed. If you rehome them the rest of the hens will not be so crowded.

I think your coop should hold 8, maybe 9 hens.

 

[vitanonest]

Number of hens for coop size is all over the place. I've read I can have up to 25 and now as few as 8. According to my math they have more than the recommended space and I've never once thought they were crammed with all their perches, swings, and toys.

They also get to free-range our 3.5 acres when we're home during the day.

HOWEVER, I did notice this evening that one of their main perches had fallen in the coop and they have all been trying to cram onto one 8 foot board at night. I've been out of town so the Mrs. has been watching them and failed to notice. I'll definitely be fixing that in the morning as they typically have two 8 foot perches up high that look out - where they like to sleep. 5 total perches in the coop and a dozen or so in the run.

I'll try the higher protein and fix the perches -hopefully everything sorts itself out. I can always thin the flock if things don't get better. We'll try the simplest thing first and go from there as they definitely don't seem to be getting any worse at this point as earlier this week there wasn't any sign of regrowth - now there is.

 

[Alaskan]

Sounds like a good plan.

As to how much space, a good minimum interior square feet is 4 square feet per bird.

A 5x8 coop is 40 square feet. 40 divided by 4 is 10 hens.

I always like giving them more coop space than that, but a huge reason for that is because I live in the frozen wasteland of Alaska. All of that cold, snow, and dark, keeps them in the coop.

 

[vitanonest]

Yeah, I was just refreshing my memory on "space rules". Sounds like I'm at 3 sq ft per chicken but that doesn't account for perch space...as they are never on the bottom.

Also, I'm in Sunny California. No winter here as we're near the coast. It's pretty much spring here 365 days a year. As such, they spend very little time in their coop. With how big the run is and all there is to do in there - along with free-ranging, I definitely don't feel bad for our spoiled birds.