Is this feather picking

[tinakevin]

Hi all I am wondering if this is feather picking or something else. My silkies are 8 months old and this summer they had beautiful puffy heads but I recently noticed that 3 of my 4 don't have that puff any more. They r in a 4 x 8 coop with 2 bantam ee and 1 leghorn. They have a covered run that 8 x 15. Are they too crowded or r they molting or something else. I have checked for bugs and they r all clean from that. No mites as I have checked the coop at night several times. Please any input would be appreciated

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[tinakevin]

 

[tinakevin]

 

[tinakevin]

 

[junebuggena]

What are you feeding? Might be feather picking if they aren't getting enough protein in their diet.
Are they laying? Could be that a more dominant bird is just getting frustrated with how long they take to lay their eggs.

 

[tinakevin]

I feed them layer pellets. Lus I give them meal worms and scratch grains. They are all laying and I've never had this happen before. My other hens that r lf are fine 5 of them I have had for almost 2 years and the others r the same age as the bantams but they r in a much larger coop but I have more of them

 

[junebuggena]

The space seems fine for a mostly bantam flock. I'm betting it's either an impatient, dominant hen pecking them while they are sitting, trying to lay; or a protein related issue. Layer feed has just enough protein in it to support production, but cut it with scratch, and you reduce the overall protein intake. It takes a lot of mealworms to offset the scratch. You may want to try switching to a feed with at least 20% protein content.

 

[SilkiesForEver]

Sometimes Silkies are the recipients of feather picking even if the flock is being fed an appropriate diet. I've had a couple of just plain old nasty hens who picked my Silkies just for the fun of it.