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How To Make Feathers On Chicken's Back Grow Faster

blueshirt8876

Chirping
12 Years
Mar 6, 2012
66
4
94
Virginia
I used to have two roosters with my seven chickens until I got rid of them. It has been four months since I got rid of the roosters, but the chicken's backs are still feather-less and scabbed. Will the feathers ever grow back? When? What can I do? Thank you for your help.
 
When your hens go into a molt, they will regrow their feathers. Frequently rooster 'damage' results in broken feathers leaving the shafts in the hens' bodies. When these fall out during a molt the body replaces them with new feathers.
 
I used to have two roosters with my seven chickens until I got rid of them. It has been four months since I got rid of the roosters, but the chicken's backs are still feather-less and scabbed. Will the feathers ever grow back? When? What can I do? Thank you for your help.
Yes they will. Maybe not until it is time for them to molt again, as one of mine did, but they will come back. Have you checked them for mites, just in case?

You can try mixing in a good gamebird feed with their regular. This will give them the extra protien needed to grow out new feathers. I also just found something at TSC that looks interesting. I am having a big problem here with both hens and 2 roos that are just about picked clean. The females are starting to get new feathering but not the boys. I am mixing in a gamebird pellet with their layer pellets and I bought this spray called PoultryAid. It says it is a nutritive wound and skin spray. What intrigued me was all of the oils in it as well. Safflower, apricot kernal, glycerin, coconut oil, borage, tea tree and mixed vitamin Es. Have no idea how it's going to work here but I will be trying it in the next day or two. I'm going to share a picture of one of my poor roos and a hen.


No mites or lice, possible feather picking. Poor Bum the roo looks like a Dr. Suess critter right now. I am hoping between the feed and the new spray, he'll grow some feathers back. Otherwise I'd better start making him some jackets for next Winter!
 
Best of luck with your chickens back, Haunted55. Thank you for the help. More info. is appreciated.
You are welcome! Isn't he a sorry looking specimen? I will post back with the results of this spray. As for more info, the only thing I can tell you, that I learned the hard way my first year, is hen to rooster ratio is very important. 4 - 6 hens per roo works pretty well. Or, as I am doing now, build another coop as a 'Boy's Club' to keep your 'not needed right now' boys. I have other roos who have never been with a hen as I don't have my breeding pens open right now. As soon as the new building is done, the breeding pens will open up and each roo, in the 5 pens will have hens of the same breed as him. When I have colected the fertile eggs I am looking to hatch, the boys will go back to the boy's club and the girls will return to the main flock.
 
Yes they will. Maybe not until it is time for them to molt again, as one of mine did, but they will come back. Have you checked them for mites, just in case?

You can try mixing in a good gamebird feed with their regular. This will give them the extra protien needed to grow out new feathers. I also just found something at TSC that looks interesting. I am having a big problem here with both hens and 2 roos that are just about picked clean. The females are starting to get new feathering but not the boys. I am mixing in a gamebird pellet with their layer pellets and I bought this spray called PoultryAid. It says it is a nutritive wound and skin spray. What intrigued me was all of the oils in it as well. Safflower, apricot kernal, glycerin, coconut oil, borage, tea tree and mixed vitamin Es. Have no idea how it's going to work here but I will be trying it in the next day or two. I'm going to share a picture of one of my poor roos and a hen.


No mites or lice, possible feather picking. Poor Bum the roo looks like a Dr. Suess critter right now. I am hoping between the feed and the new spray, he'll grow some feathers back. Otherwise I'd better start making him some jackets for next Winter!
Mine looks just like this one at the bottom right now. :( WHY are they doing this? They didn't do this to the other roo.......I also checked him for lice and mites and found NONE. I was also considering making him a saddle like I made the girls to keep them from pecking on him. I'm trying to keep him with them because I wanted to incubate some eggs.
 

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