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

[Farmer Kitty]

Mine look like this also. Remember when dusting them for mites to clean the coop (including nest boxes) and dust everything. I did this on Saturday, still waiting to see what comes of it though. I couldn't see any little bugs but, it was time to clean the coop and thought it a good step to try.

 

[sgtmom52]

I have 6 hens (3 BO & 3 SLW) and 5 of them look very similar to yours and the 6th one (Rosie - BO) has no feathers msissing at all. The problem is that Rosie is a "feather picker". She pulls the feathers out of all of the other ones and they just let her do it.

She does it when they are sitting in the nest boxes and when they are out in the run she will walk up behind them grab feathers and run. It doesn't seem to bother them but they look really ugly and pitiful! Poor Nugget looks like a "naked neck" right now!

I tried using Bluekot and that doesn't work because she will just pull out feathers that aren't covered with it.

I don't know what to do to stop her other than getting rid of Rosie (we don't eat our pets!) We don't have a seperate coop/run to put her in but I might try to build something to put her in - away from the others. I was wondering if getting a rooster might keep her from being such a bully.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

sgtmom52-Do you feed black oil sunflower seed? It has 30% protein, methione(required for feather growth), and tryptophan.

From dlhunicorn-A recent study at the university of Wageningen in Holland (Poultry Science) has also found that tryptophan content (high) will reduce agressivity if this is the underlying cause and not nutritional (sunflower seeds are high in tryptophan for instance...do a google search on it )..

I have been feeding BOSS since last fall when I had noticed a feather picker and have seen results. No more picking feathers and my chickens seam calmer. I have not seen anyone picking feathers and the few laying around the coop stay there so I don't think in my case it is a feather picker.

 

[sgtmom52]

I have been giving them some hulless sunflower seed chips and also a handful of high protein dry kitten food (40% protein) everyday. I also try to give them some meat scraps whenever I have some until it warms up enough for the bugs to come out. Maybe I should try the BOSS with shells on them. I think that Rosie might have developed a "habit" of picking and the others see her as dominant and do nothing to discourage her.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

They say either shelled or shelless. Watch the kitten food-it has salt and salt is harmful to chickens.

 

[ChickenMommy]

I just cleaned the coop out, dusting it ALL with DE then putting fresh pine shavings and straw, layering with DE. I also dusted the chickens themsleves with DE. We shall see if it helps. I also got some black oil sunflower seeds for added protien.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

I guess we wait together.

 

[wefanjr]

This is just the topic i was looking for. Those pictures could have been of my hens. I know from watching them that there is definitely one culprit who is constantly eating everybody else's feathers. They say it's boredom or from not enough space. My hens have plenty of space, scratch, flock blocks. i'm going to try the black oil sunflower seeds, that has been suggested. One of my hens sure does look awful. her crop area is bare and so is her rump.

DE? Do you dust them directly. What is the safest way to do this? Is there any potential harm with DE?

 

[Ma]

If it were me, I'd put a chicken saddle on them. They will safely grow back all their feathers right underneath the saddle. If it is from a feather picking chicken, it won't stop. And you could risk breaking the skin open, and then you have another set of problems.

I would cover it up and let it heal naturally. I use saddles on my hens, but for Rooster damage. They work great!

My humble 2 cents
Ma

 

[kat399]

I experienced my first molt last year. There were so many feathers, I thought the fox or a weasel had got in. They looked horrible, and stopped laying for a few weeks. It was kind of neat to watch the feathers grow back in though.