Help please! Feather Pecking / Molting / Mites or Lice

[lilmadhoward]

Hi All,

I was hoping some of you guys could help, I'm new to keeping chickens, I've had 2 Gingernut Rangers and 2 Blue Hazes since mid December with no bother until recently when one of the Gingernut Rangers seems to have lost feathers on the back of her neck?

Could anyone suggest what this is off (I feel that it may be another hen pecking) and how I go about solving the problem?

I look forward to receiving any advice/help.

Thanks

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. When I have seen lost feathers on the back of the neck, I have usually found it to be from other roosters or hens pulling out feathers. If they are molting, the neck feathers will come out first. Do you know their ages? Molting occurs yearly, but the first molt is around 16-18 months of age. Put some BluKote or Nustock on the bare spots to help prevent further picking. Nustock tastes bad, hides bare skin, and helps healing, while BluKote hides the bare spots. Look around the coop for evidence of lost feathers from molting. Make sure they have plenty of room in the coop, and get them outside daily to free range to prevent boredom. Lastly, make sure they are eating at least 16-20% protein in their layer feed.

 

[lilmadhoward]

Hi,

Thank you so much for your advice.

Looking further into it, it would appear that she was molting, I used the products recommended and she seems to have new feathers coming through filling in the spaces now.

Thanks again.