Hen's Feathers Won't Regrow

[Hidden Ridge Farms]

I have a hen that lost her saddle feathers this past spring. I figured it was just because she was a favorite of my roosters and put a saddle cover on her. But, then I noticed some of her wing quill feathers were starting to fall out as well. I dusted her really well (on a few occasions), they always have DE in their dust bath, and I even wormed her.

Both of my roos were killed by a fox over a month ago . So, she hasn't been seeing "action" for at least that long. I increased her protein intake, plus they get to free range a lot and we are in the midst of the cicada swarm (even more protein). Why won't this hen's feathers grow back? I figured if this were a parasite infestation, I would be having the same issues with the rest of my flock, but that isn't the case.

 

[azygous]

Has this chicken ever molted? How old is she?

Failure to molt sometimes occurs, and a chicken can go a couple of years with steadily degrading feathers. I have one right now that has never had an adult molt and is nine months past due to molt.

I am feeding her a helping of high grade animal protein once a day to see if that can trigger her to molt.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If any part of the feather shaft is left, she will not regrow any feathers until she molts. If the entire feather is gone she should start regrowing feathers fairly quickly. Looks like you may have to wait on the molt.

 

[Hidden Ridge Farms]

Has this chicken ever molted? How old is she?

Failure to molt sometimes occurs, and a chicken can go a couple of years with steadily degrading feathers. I have one right now that has never had an adult molt and is nine months past due to molt.

I am feeding her a helping of high grade animal protein once a day to see if that can trigger her to molt.

She is 2 yrs old right now. She molted like normal in the fall.

 

[azygous]

Then she's out of luck until next fall. Any feathers plucked cleanly out have a good chance of regrowing, but broken feathers won't until molt pushes them out.