Hen lost head and neck feathers, comb is now white!

[Don Jr]

I thought at first that the other chickens were pulling her feathers out, but i have been looking in on them more than often and i have seen no picking. And i never hear very much noise out of them. They have all been together their whole life, they get along fine. And now her comb is almost white!

 

[purpletree23]

Are there pin feathers coming in to replace the lost feathers?
Did you check her for lice and mites?
How old is she?
What do you feed her?
Is she plucking them out herself or excessive scratching?
Is she eating the feathers?

 

[Don Jr]

She is one year old eats layena no pin feathers and why would she eat the feathers?

 

[dlhunicorn]

for some excellent information on molting , scroll down to the section on that here:
http://msucares.com/poultry/management/culling.html
It might be a combination of things... if you have never wormed your birds for instance and dependent on the type of worm they might not be getting the crucial vitamins and nutrients they need from their feed.
If you suspect this then give a broad spectrum wormer like ivomec Eprinex (spot on >topically) and give a good complete vitmain/nutritional supplement like AviaCharge 2000 ( you can purchase this online from McMurry or Strombergs).

 

[Tailfeathers]

I suggest getting a copy of The Chicken Health Handbook by Gail Damerow. I think the key to look for is the white comb.

God Bless,

 

[purpletree23]

Did you check for mites and lice????????

If she is eating the feathers she has a protein deficiency.

Have you ever wormed her?

Worm her and treat for mites and lice. Use Wazine as the first wormer and then isn a few weeks use the wormer Ivermectin. Sprinkle her with poultry dust and make sure it gets all the way down the feather shafts to the skin.

Get the book Tailfeathers recommended and up the nutrition for all your chickens. Give scrambled egg, cottage cheese, chopped greens, yogurt, chopped tomato, even a small pumpkin cut in thirds so they can peck at it. and small amounts of fruit. The fruit can cause diarhhea.

Don't give all at once. Give a treat a day.

 

[kathyinmo]

Could it be favus? (white comb) check out these links...

http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/Favus/Favus.html

http://www.organicvet.co.uk/Poultryweb/disease/favus/favus.htm

Just a thought....

 

[dlhunicorn]

Use Wazine as the first wormer and then isn a few weeks use the wormer Ivermectin.

Wazine only gets one type of worm... if she is as ill as you seem to be describing I would go with the ivomec Eprinex straight off as it will get all the different types of worms except tapeworms (which are not all that common).​

 

[M To The Maxx]

Never mind.

 

[dlhunicorn]

Sulmet is NOT a worming med !