Ladies losing feathers on head and belly....

[EncinitasHens]

I am not sure what is going on with the ladies. They are losing feathers on their head and belly. The are looking kind of scrappy. It's only happening on 4 of the ladies. The other 5 chickens are fine. I have a rooster and he definitely pays attention to these ladies. Does anyone have any ideas? Is there something I can I do to help them look less scrappy?

Thanks.

 

[kari_dawn]

Gotta say, the first pic looks like a skinny bird...not sure why the keel would be featherless...did you check for mites?

As for the heads and backs, chicken saddles seems to be the usual answer....you could try rotating the girls...if you have a way to separate them, and make the roo stay with the other girls for a while to give these girls a chance to re-feather....

 

[EncinitasHens]

Thanks. The first is a skinny bird. She's at the bottom of the pecking order. I have to give her extra food time when I can. Is there any particular food that you recommend that will help plump her up? Right now I give them organic crumble in an auto feeder and they get scratch and veggie scraps.

 

[kari_dawn]

do you free range them at all? It could help fatten her up if she is allowed to seek out food on her own without being crowded out by the others. I suplement my chickens with mealworms. They are fatty, high in protien, and they LOVE them...I feed a lot of them in winter because of the higher fat content. I also suplement with black oil sunflower seeds (which they also love), and pumpkin in the fall (again, they love!). Yogurt is also good...do you limit the amount of feed you give? You may try giving them free choice food...this would give her the chance to get to the feeder after the other girls have had their fil. It would really help her fatten up I think.

 

[EncinitasHens]

They have a fairly large pen area that they get to roam around in. I don't let them range outside of that. Too many neighborhood cats, dogs and hawks. I will try the little treats that you mentioned. Thanks so much for the info!