Losing feathers without shaft & poopy feathers below vent

[lovemy6hens]

Our girl Lucy (easter egger) is losing feathers. She is 2.5 years old. The feathers she's losing don't have the feather shaft or fluff above it attached. The feathers are from the back of her neck. I don't think it's from being pecked. I've seen them just fall off of her. She seems to have lost some of the fullness of her beard & muffs.

Some of it is probably stress. It's getting hot here. Also, we had to have our other easter egger, Dirty Birdie, put to sleep a couple of weeks ago. They'd been together since they were day-old chicks. Lucy followed her everywhere.

Lucy also has constantly poopy feathers below her vent. She doesn't seem to position herself at much of an angle when she goes and her feathers seem to grow up at more of an angle in that area than our other girls. Could that be the problem? We've trimmed the fluff, but that has just caused the poop to get stuck in the feathers directly below the vent.

They were all given dose #1 of Valbazen a couple of days ago. Absolutely no signs of lice or mites on any of them.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Some birds will go through a neck molt, sounds like that's what is going on. Some birds are just more poopy than others, I haven't found a good way to prevent it.

 

[TroyerGal]

O my word! I have a chicken named dirty bird too! (Sorry about being a hijacker... that was just too funny!)

 

[lovemy6hens]

Some birds will go through a neck molt, sounds like that's what is going on. Some birds are just more poopy than others, I haven't found a good way to prevent it.

Thank you. That's reassuring!

 

[lovemy6hens]

O my word! I have a chicken named dirty bird too! (Sorry about being a hijacker... that was just too funny!)

That is very funny!

 

[lovemy6hens]

Lucy has continued to lose feathers around her neck. We found lice on some of the girls and have treated everyone. None of the others look like this. What is going on and what do we do to fix it?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

She is probably starting the annual fall molt.

 

[aart]

Lucy has continued to lose feathers around her neck. We found lice on some of the girls and have treated everyone. None of the others look like this. What is going on and what do we do to fix it?

Those feathers stubs look like they have been broken or bitten off.
They won't grow back until she molts.
Some birds have more brittle feathers and are more likely to have this happen.

Do you have a cockbird(rooster)?
How many bird in how big a coop(feet by feet)?

Does she still have poopy butt feathers?
What and how exactly are you feeding?

 

[lovemy6hens]

I wish this was a molt, but the feathers have definitely been broken or chewed off.

No rooster.

10 hens, all over 2 years old.

We have 2 separate coops. Their daytime coop/run is 116 sf & their sleeping coop is 104 sf. They are free in our backyard if we are home.

Her bottom still gets poopy; not nearly as much or frequently as it was.

They are currently eating nutrena feather fixer out of a hanging round plastic feeder with grit & oyster shell mixed in. Everything is from tractor supply.