Help! Hens Look Horrible

[tshens]

Hello
I have been dealing with feather loss in most of my hens for a couple months now. My husband and I discovered lice a few weeks ago and have treated the coop and the flock.

My hens do not seem to be regenerating their feathers on backs, despite adding feather conditioner and rooster booster to their feed. Some of them actually look worse.

I have tried researching if there could be other parasites that are causing this issue but cannot find much more information then lice/mites, or over breeding from rooster being the culprits. We only have 1 Roo for 22 hens, so he is pretty busy.

Am I missing something here? Or am I just being impatient. My hens look horrible!

Thanks in Advance!

 

[Poultry parent]

Are you sure they aren't molting?

 

[drumstick diva]

It would help if you could post photos of how they are looking. I would think molt also but, it would be more widespread than just their backs. Does the rooster have any missing feathers. If the cause was parasites he should have the same bare back - unless he is causing it. Maybe you could separate him for a couple weeks to see if the hens start to regrow new feathers.

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas, tshens, and

! Pleased you joined our community! Looks you already received some great advice so I will just say best of luck to you and your hens!

 

[N F C]

Thanks for joining us!

 

[Teila]

G’Day from down under tshens

Welcome!

As suggested, some pics may help in determining the issue. I hope you are able to get to the bottom of it.

I also hope you enjoy being a BYC member. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun.

 

[tshens]

Hello,
Thank you for your reply. I have thought about it being molt too, but they are only missing feathers on their backs, and not anywhere else. Wouldn't they molt off feathers everywhere? I have never had hens who have molted before, so I am not quite sure what it looks like in person, but from what I have read they pretty much lose all feathers. In addition, dont they stop laying eggs during molt? My girls are laying just fine. Which is another reason for my confusion. If they were ill I would assume egg production would drop dramatically, no? This has been going on for weeks. Most of them have bare backs, except for a handful of hens, and my rooster looks just fine.

We have treated everyone for the lice and also treated coop 2X for the lice. I put out wood ash and DE for dust bath. Their poo looks fine, no worms or anything. I'm just not sure what else to do to try to help them back to normal.

I will try to get some pictures up.

Thank you!

 

[tshens]

Hello,
Thank you for your reply. I have thought about it being molt too, but they are only missing feathers on their backs, and not anywhere else. Wouldn't they molt off feathers everywhere? I have never had hens who have molted before, so I am not quite sure what it looks like in person, but from what I have read they pretty much lose all feathers. In addition, dont they stop laying eggs during molt? My girls are laying just fine. Which is another reason for my confusion. If they were ill I would assume egg production would drop dramatically, no? This has been going on for weeks. Most of them have bare backs, except for a handful of hens, and my rooster looks just fine.

We have treated everyone for the lice and also treated coop 2X for the lice. I put out wood ash and DE for dust bath. Their poo looks fine, no worms or anything. I'm just not sure what else to do to try to help them back to normal.

I will try to get some pictures up.

Thank you!

Are you sure they aren't molting?

 

[Poultry parent]

I don't have any pictures of my hens molting so I looked one up. Hens sometimes continue to lay while molting, though it's not very common. Have you looked to see if it can see visible lice or mites? Even though you've treated for them.

 

[tshens]

I don't have any pictures of my hens molting so I looked one up. Hens sometimes continue to lay while molting, though it's not very common. Have you looked to see if it can see visible lice or mites? Even though you've treated for them. ------------------

We checked a few days back and there weren't any lice, but they still had the nits on them stuck in their feathers, so we treated again and will be checking again.