Is this a molt?

[LeaRae]

Hi there,

Noticed one of my RIRs is losing some feathers. She's ruffling herself a lot, and a few feathers are sticking out in odd directions. When you look closely, though, she's missing most of the feathers from her belly. The feathers that are there are broken off short. Some of the area is red. They are about a year old now, but this is the only one of the three that is having this problem.

Here's a bad picture, it was hard to take it with a camera phone, so I apologize for the quality!

So is this a molt, or is it something I should be concerned about?

 

[eggsrcool]

depending on where you live it could be moult, if it's summer where you are, then no it's not moult. If it's winter then yes it could be.

If you own a cockerel then it might be feathers pulled out by mating. It could also be mites or lice in the houses. Search her if you think it could be.

Good luck.

 

[max101]

Feathers missing from underneath may mean she is broody
Is she sitting in the nest box a lot

Have you checked for mites/lice
Good luck hope everything goes well

 

[missychicky]

My hen is in exactly the condition you described. I thought it was a molt but where I am I'm nearing the end of spring. Is she ok?

 

[feathersnuggles]

Broody, probably. They pluck their belly/chest feathers in order to keep eggs up against their warm skin.

Other broody signs are: aggressiveness to the rest of the flock, screaming when you disrupt them on the nest, spending a lot of time on the nest, very warm fever-like body temp, huge horrible stinker-poops, etc. These signs don't come all at once, they creep up over time as the broodiness sets in.

 

[lex381]

My birds scream at me all the time when I am "interuppting" there laying.

 

[LeaRae]

I have checked for lice/mites. I didn't notice anything, but I didnt exactly know what I was looking for either... didn't notice anything but bare skin and broken feathers. I noticed she is sitting in the nest box a bit, but she's not staying in there all the time. She comes out to visit us when we walk by and when we let her out of the run she plays happily with the other ladies all day without going back.

If the broodiness takes time to set in, I will need to get my hands on some fertile eggs when it does...