loosing feathers

[mntlass]

I am having the same bald backed chicken issue. I don't have a rooster, I have dusted for mites multiple times and have changed all the shavings in the coop but my girls have been bald for almost 8 months now! I sprayed their backs with something recommended on here but they just pecked it off themselves. The few new chickens I have brought in do not have this problem which leads me to believe its not mites. Help!! They look terrible and winter is HERE! I have had one get frost nip already

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ANY advice is greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!!

 

[twadwis]

I only have one hen and she is currently kept is a small, basically a 2 bird coop. The weather in Wis has been really cold and she spends most of her time up in the nesting boxes. I began noticing a lot of feathers in the one box and other than her tail is gone she doesn't look bald any where. She has always looked like she is beginning to molt, often some of the head feathers and neck feathers looked like pin feathers ? I put a 60 watt lamp up by the boxes and she stays close to that, seldom goes down to the ground.
I have looked to see if she has parasites but don't see anything. She gets a good commercial layer feed, cracked corn and grit but prefers the corn. I have started giving her 1/2 slice of whole wheat bread combined with the feed and warm water all mixed together a couple of time a day up by her nest because she doesn't want to go out. This doesn't seem to have caused a poop problem, but she has had bouts of liquid poop that I though were due to her free range. She does have some dirty feathers on her butt but the weather is too cold to wash her.
She hasn't laid an egg since her buddy hen got killed (in a wind slammed door) but I do sometimes see a marble sized yellow ball when cleaning the pen.
So, I'm far from 'chicken smart' and I do wonder if maybe she is sick due to my ignorance.
One last odd thing is she now has bright yellow feet, healthy shiny scales until the upper part which is dull, pale.
How I ened up in this one chicken situation is too long of a story.....good for another time.

 

[TwoCrows]

I only have one hen and she is currently kept is a small, basically a 2 bird coop. The weather in Wis has been really cold and she spends most of her time up in the nesting boxes. I began noticing a lot of feathers in the one box and other than her tail is gone she doesn't look bald any where. She has always looked like she is beginning to molt, often some of the head feathers and neck feathers looked like pin feathers ? I put a 60 watt lamp up by the boxes and she stays close to that, seldom goes down to the ground.
I have looked to see if she has parasites but don't see anything. She gets a good commercial layer feed, cracked corn and grit but prefers the corn. I have started giving her 1/2 slice of whole wheat bread combined with the feed and warm water all mixed together a couple of time a day up by her nest because she doesn't want to go out. This doesn't seem to have caused a poop problem, but she has had bouts of liquid poop that I though were due to her free range. She does have some dirty feathers on her butt but the weather is too cold to wash her.
She hasn't laid an egg since her buddy hen got killed (in a wind slammed door) but I do sometimes see a marble sized yellow ball when cleaning the pen.
So, I'm far from 'chicken smart' and I do wonder if maybe she is sick due to my ignorance.
One last odd thing is she now has bright yellow feet, healthy shiny scales until the upper part which is dull, pale.
How I ened up in this one chicken situation is too long of a story.....good for another time.

Sounds like she is molting. They can get very quiet and sit by themselves during a molt. Just let her go through her molt and she should be fine. Most birds generally stop laying during a molt as it takes too much protein to grow feathers AND lay eggs, however some birds can do a bit of both. Keep an eye on her and if she develops any symptoms of anything, feel free to post a question in our emergency section.