HELP!! Is this molting or something else? PICS INCLUDED

[btenbo11]

Hi there. I have 8 Red Sex Link hens whose feathers look like the pictures below. In late Feb through early March they turned 1 year old. I also have two roosters who are not showing any change in their feathers like the hens. I was thinking they were molting, since they turned a year old but not sure now. Some of the hens are worse than others. I hate to see them like this, they are not pretty like they used to be with beautiful feathers The problem areas are their wings and back (closer to the tail). I have tried to look for mites, and chicken lice. One hen I did notice with small tanish brown slithery bugs on her head. I decided to be safer than sorrier and dusted all the chickens. This has been a few weeks since and I don't see any improvement in the feathers. The girls are constantly cleaning themselves and dust bathing. Is this a molting issue or parasites? Or do they need something more in their feed. I currently feed them layer feed from the feed store and yogurt. I also give them food scraps when available. The other thing that bothers me it that on some of their wings, their is a bright pink bump that looks awful and their feathers look as if they are broken off at the shaft. They don't fight with one other and our boys are very polite Please help if you have any ideas or suggestions for me. I currently have another 10 chicks I am waiting to introduce, but not sure when because I want to get
this under control. Poor Girls Thanks and God bless.

 

[LRH97]

If their feathers are broken, I would say that the roosters have been a little too "busy". The pictures look like my roo's favorite hen, with the thinning back and the stripped and broken wing feathers. I would have done the same thing and dusted them to be safe, however.

 

[Rocky Rhodes]

Rooster damage!! If you are not planning to hatch eggs, then I would separate the roosters from the hens. If you want fertile eggs you could always try saddle aprons with wing guards.

 

[Shabana]

Yup my roosters fav hen looks similar too.
She wears her saddle in cooler weather. At the moment it's a bit warm and her feathers aren't too bad but I pop one on her every so often.

Best wishes x

 

[iwiw60]

What did you dust them with?

 

[btenbo11]

I dusted them with GardStar garden and poultry dust. Wow, never would have considered the roosters might be causing the damage. Our roosters are only bantams, we don't have full sized ones and they most of the time have a hard time mounting the girls, the girls don't seem to be interested.