how can you tell if chickens are moulting? **PICS ADDED**

[ChickenMommy]

I have 1 chicken with a bare back and 1 chicken with bare spots on its chest and stomache area and have a reduced egg production. There are quite a bit of feathers in the coop area as well. My chickens are a little over a year old. Are they moulting? How can you tell if they are?

 

[ibpboo]

When they are molting, there will be a lot of feathers in pen and they will start looking bare, really funny looking, and they do not lay eggs while molting, so its a good chance yours are doing their spring molt!

 

[wynedot55]

yes your hens are molting.thats why your seeing feathers in the henhouse.as well as bare spots all over your hens.some hens slow down laying in molt.an some hens even stop laying eggs for a while.

 

[s6bee]

I have not experienced molting yet, but I did read somewhere that it begins on the head area. I would assume maybe your hens are molting, but make sure they aren't irritated in those areas on the back. Do you have a rooster? If mating, I guess loss of feathers on back might be a symptom of it.

 

[ChickenMommy]

They don't have any bald spots on there head. Several have some feathers missing on there chest area. 1 chicken has bald spots on stomache and missing feathers in the cesta area. Then there's another, Blackie, that has feathers mising in chest area(a few) and a BALD spot on the back that definatly looks VERY irritated. She picks at it all the time. I put some rooster booster no peck stuff on it but she just pecks it off. Its funny to watch her peck it off actually She pecks it then wipes her beak off on the grass then pecks agian till ts all off. So it does no good to put it on. I have no rooster so thats not the problem. She doesn't get picked on really. The QUEEN hen pecks some at all the others but not much at blackie actually so I dont think shes getting pecked at. I see blackie pecking her self more often and never really see anyone pecking her. How can I get her to stop. It looks pretty bad....its not bleeding but its definalty red and irritated looking. I am considering isolating her, although don't really know how to do that.

 

[ChickenMommy]

Okay here's Blackie's rearend.

Here's Rosie's tummy.

Here's Splash's rearend.

What does everyone think?

 

[ibpboo]

I hope some one can help you because that is not how my chickens molt. I'm not sure what it is.

 

[mangled]

I don't think that's a moult either. When my girls moult, it's more like a general rough appearance all over. I don't think I've ever seen a bald spot.

The back end of the black hen, that skin looks awfully irritated. Poor girl.

I hope someone can help you find the answer you need.
Em

 

[Farmer Kitty]

*Bump*

 

[texaschickmama]

I have a couple of mine, BO, that look just like that. If it was mites wouldn't it be on all the girls? I have blu kote on them to kind of protect the skin, but I'm going to give a good dusting to them with DE today to make sure it is not mites. My only other guess is that these are Caesar's favorites.

I do remember you saying you don't have a rooster, probably mites then, do you have any DE?