Hey there

[Ariethman]

Hello everyone,
A few of my hens have had their feathers fall put on their backs. I dont see any mites,no red skin and I have put saddles on their backs. The feathers still are not growing back. Help!!

 

[coach723]

How old are the hens and how long have you had them? Do you have a rooster? How long have the feathers been gone? Can you post some pictures of the birds?

 

[Ariethman]

The hens are a year old now, yes we have roosters but the hens wear saddles all of the time

 

[coach723]

Saddles can help, but they may not be enough, just depends on the roo's in question. How many hens and how many roo's do you have? Sounds like over mating. There is no magic number since the personalities of individual birds can vary, but about 10 hens to a roo is generally considered a good number. Less hens, more roo's and the hens tend to get beat up, or injured. The birds that look the worst are likely favorites or more submissive so get mounted more often. Once chicks get their first set of adult feathers then they generally don't molt until they are 18 months old (this can vary some) and often lost feathers won't fill in until they do molt. So that may happen later this summer or fall in this case.

 

[Kiki]

Welcome to BYC!
How many hens/roosters do you have?
Can you post clear pictures of this bird?

 

[Ariethman]

Saddles can help, but they may not be enough, just depends on the roo's in question. How many hens and how many roo's do you have? Sounds like over mating. There is no magic number since the personalities of individual birds can vary, but about 10 hens to a roo is generally considered a good number. Less hens, more roo's and the hens tend to get beat up, or injured. The birds that look the worst are likely favorites or more submissive so get mounted more often. Once chicks get their first set of adult feathers then they generally don't molt until they are 18 months old (this can vary some) and often lost feathers won't fill in until they do molt. So that may happen later this summer or fall in this case.

 

[Sapphire Sebright]

Could she be molting? Or is someone else pecking at her back?

 

[Ariethman]

I have never seen the chickens peck at each others backs. All of my hens get along great.

 

[Cryss]

I have never seen the chickens peck at each others backs. All of my hens get along great.

The feathers on a female chickens back are not being pulled out by flock mates. They get pulled out when a rooster mounts her for breeding. It’s pretty rough on the hen and can even result in injury. That’s why a flock needs to have a lot more hens then roosters. An average ratio is 1 rooster for 10 hens so they don’t overwhelm one or two hens.

 

[Ariethman]

Come to think of it..5 hens lost their back feathers at the same time, so maybe they are moulting. But this probably started in early Jan, is that strange?