Is My Chicken Moulting or is This More Serious?

[OurFineFeatheredFriends]

One of our 11-month old Lohmann Browns started sleeping on top of the nesting boxes, instead of on the roost a couple nights ago. The first night I saw this, I moved her onto the roost. The next night she was on top of the nesting boxes again so I moved her again. The hen next to her started pecking at her and she hopped down a rung. Then I noticed she was missing feathers on her neck and tail. I took her into the garage to keep her safe in a large dog crate with all the amenities until I could figure out what was going on with her. We are new to chicken keeping, but we got our ten pullets at the same time from the same breeder back in April. They have an 6’x8’ coop with 20’ attached run. We feed them layer feed and no more than 10% treats. This chicken does seem to have runny poop and isn’t laying. All our birds went into moult a couple months ago, after their waterer became air locked and they were unable to get any water for a couple days before we discovered the problem (we felt AWFUL for not noticing sooner). The rest have recovered, but maybe she’s still struggling? I don’t see any wounds and She seems to be eating and drinking normally.

 

[rosemarythyme]

The pin feathers on the neck are indicative of molt. Molting birds may choose to stay away from others (sleeping in nests) and may go off feed, so those sorts of things are normal.

The tail feathers look to be chewed off at the ends. Have you noticed any other birds with similar feather damage?

 

[OurFineFeatheredFriends]

The pin feathers on the neck are indicative of molt. Molting birds may choose to stay away from others (sleeping in nests) and may go off feed, so those sorts of things are normal.

The tail feathers look to be chewed off at the ends. Have you noticed any other birds with similar feather damage?

That’s helpful, thank you. The rest of the flock seems fine, no broken tail feathers. Is she being bullied? And if so, what can we do? I had thought to keep her separated until she seems strong again and maybe give her grower feed for a bit, but I’d appreciate any advice you have to offer.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

She definitely looks like she's going through a hard molt. What percent protein is your layer feed? If it's on the low end and your others are molting they very well may be chewing on her feathers for extra protein. I would definitely recommend putting any molting birds on the grower feed you mentioned.

 

[rosemarythyme]

That’s helpful, thank you. The rest of the flock seems fine, no broken tail feathers. Is she being bullied? And if so, what can we do? I had thought to keep her separated until she seems strong again and maybe give her grower feed for a bit, but I’d appreciate any advice you have to offer.

Not necessarily bullied but the others might be taking a nibble of her tail. No need to separate her, I'd try increasing protein for the whole flock since protein deficiency can be a contributing factor to feather eating - like if right now they're getting 16% layer try 18-20% grower or all flock instead.

 

[OurFineFeatheredFriends]

She definitely looks like she's going through a hard molt. What percent protein is your layer feed? If it's on the low end and your others are molting they very well may be chewing on her feathers for extra protein. I would definitely recommend putting any molting birds on the grower feed you mentioned.

Our layer feed is 17% protein. The others have finished their moult and have been laying every day again for a few weeks now. We’ll give this poor girl the grower feed until she’s over her moult. Should we continue to keep her separated from the others? I don’t want her to get depressed, or have trouble re-integrating.

 

[OurFineFeatheredFriends]

Not necessarily bullied but the others might be taking a nibble of her tail. No need to separate her, I'd try increasing protein for the whole flock since protein deficiency can be a contributing factor to feather eating - like if right now they're getting 16% layer try 18-20% grower or all flock instead.

We have switched them all over to the higher protein feed today. We’ll let her re-join the flock in the morning. She can at least get one more night of sleep without being pecked at and pushed off the roost. Thank you