Hen losing all feathers

[hcmiller]

Y'all. I have a hen who has been broody. I broke the broodiness and she is back with the rest of the feather babies acting somewhat normal. Now she is losing all her feathers. ALL OF THEM. She barely has any left and this has literally happened over the course of a few days. She doesn't appear to have been bullied as there are no raw spots or markings. I picked her up today and she got super skiddish (unlike her) and when she tossed around, feathers went everywhere. I'm super worried about her. Any thoughts on this? I can send a picture tomorrow if that would help.

 

[Teila]

Howdy hcmiller

She sounds like she is moulting to me. They can go from this:




To this:



In a day or two.

Can you see pin feathers? She would have got a bit skiddish when you picked her up because those pin feathers are very sensitive.

If she is moulting, I recommend upping her protein intake, lots of TLC and no touching

 

[Isaac 0]

Agree with the above.They molt after going broody.

 

[hcmiller]

Howdy hcmiller She sounds like she is moulting to me. They can go from this: To this: In a day or two. Can you see pin feathers? She would have got a bit skiddish when you picked her up because those pin feathers are very sensitive. If she is moulting, I recommend upping her protein intake, lots of TLC and no touching

There are pin feathers. Oh thanks so much! I wondered if it was moulting but my goodness she's almost completely naked! Should I be providing warmth during cold nights? I typically don't heat my coop (rarely drops below 30 here) but should I now that she doesn't have feathers to keep her warm?

 

[Teila]

There are pin feathers. Oh thanks so much! I wondered if it was moulting but my goodness she's almost completely naked! Should I be providing warmth during cold nights? I typically don't heat my coop (rarely drops below 30 here) but should I now that she doesn't have feathers to keep her warm?

Living in Aus I do not have the colder temps to contend with when my gals are moulting, but if she is sleeping on the roost, snuggled between her flock mates, they should keep her nice and warm.

Having just seen pictures of someone’s coop burnt to the ground due to heating; I do not recommend it.

If she is not snuggling with her friends and is sleeping in the nest box or in a corner etc, may be try ensuring she is warm by adding straw around her or something to keep her cosy.