Incomplete Molt???

[arstarr]

One of my silver laced wyandottes started to molt and then quit midway though. She's often seen on her own so I think she is bullied. I separated her to give her time to grow her feathers in peace, but after a month of isolation she only managed to regrow the ones picked out on her back from bullying. The rest look awful like these photos. She's on a 20% layer pellet and gets some scratch grains. Is there anything else I can do to promote feather growth and get her back to beautiful?

It's starting to get cold and I'm worried she won't be warm enough through the winter months. She already stands with one leg up when it's only in the mid 40s.

 

[Rose the Legbar]

Keep her in a separate pen so that she can still see the others but they can’t interact. It could be that her flockmates were picking at her pin feathers making it so they were not allowed to grow. Or that for some reason she isn’t getting in enough calcium so she can’t grow any new feathers. I would put some oyster shell in a side dish for her to eat out of it if she needs that extra calcium.

 

[arstarr]

Keep her in a separate pen so that she can still see the others but they can’t interact. It could be that her flockmates were picking at her pin feathers making it so they were not allowed to grow. Or that for some reason she isn’t getting in enough calcium so she can’t grow any new feathers. I would put some oyster shell in a side dish for her to eat out of it if she needs that extra calcium.

I already separated her and gave her a month in a separate pen. It didn't do anything. And they weren't picking out her pin feathers because she was already separated.

 

[Rose the Legbar]

Hmm. Does she have any supplemental calcium that she can eat? It is quite odd that she isn’t able to regrow her feathers.

 

[NatJ]

Or that for some reason she isn’t getting in enough calcium so she can’t grow any new feathers. I would put some oyster shell in a side dish for her to eat out of it if she needs that extra calcium.

Hmm. Does she have any supplemental calcium that she can eat? It is quite odd that she isn’t able to regrow her feathers.

Feathers are made of mostly protein, not calcium.

A separate dish of oyster shell will do no harm, but it will not help her grow new feathers.

 

[Eggcessive]

What is her exact age? Chickens usually molt the first time around 18 months of age, and then yearly thereafter. Could it be possible that she was suffering feather loss from her flock members, and that she has nit yet molted? I would use caution adding her back with her flock. It might be better to gradually introduce her in a wire dog crate with food and water or behind some fence netting. I would supervise the mingling, or she could get really hurt. Cut out the scratch, and keep her primarily on her layer feed, and maybe some bits of scrambled egg or tuna as occasional treats. Scratch has only about 7% protein, and if she eats a lot of it, she will not be getting enough protein.

 

[jo7311]

I've been having the same sort of issue. She started molting back in September. It took her almost 4 months to grow her feathers back and this what she looks like today.

 

[arstarr]

I've been having the same sort of issue. She started molting back in September. It took her almost 4 months to grow her feathers back and this what she looks like today.View attachment 4029196View attachment 4029197

Very interesting. I've seen one other person with this issue and she was also a silver laced wyandotte...wondering if it's a breed thing

In fact, this post is a year old, and when all my chickens molted this past fall, this girl didn't molt at all....so she's still stuck like this

 

[jo7311]

It may be. I'm still fairly new to chickens. I got these girls in May 2023 so this was their first adult molt. They were ordered from the same company at the same time. Her sister started her molt early December and did fine. It's just this one particular hen that is having issues. Picture of hen that only took a few weeks to regrow feathers. Her feathers grew back normal. She still has pins on her head but that's it.

 

[jo7311]

In fact, this post is a year old, and when all my chickens molted this past fall, this girl didn't molt at all....so she's still stuck like this

And here I am thinking it was just a few days ago, lol.