Hello, first time poster. I bought four day old chicks from the feed store beginning of Jan 2015. (I have learned everything I know about chickens from you guys - no clue what I would do without you). One of my girls, a white leghorn, has been losing feathers for about a month. I have been seeing white feathers in the yard, but since I have added 2 white turkeys, I wasn't exactly sure who the feathers belonged to. It is pretty obvious that she is missing a lot of feathers. She has gone broody 3 times since starting to lay. I broke her within 1-3 days each time. It seems the missing feathers started about the last time she went broody. She seems to be eating, drinking, roosting and otherwise acting normally. She hasn't laid eggs though since she went broody which was about 3 weeks ago. I do have a silkie roo that has discovered women, but she isn't one of his favorites. She's at the top of the pecking order and my husband and I don't see anyone pecking at her. I do see what appears to be a lot of new feather quills starting on her. I would have guessed she was molting but isn't she too young (9 mos?) My flock sleeps in a PVC tractor enclosed by hardware cloth during the night and they roam our yard from about 9am-8pm. Everyone else seems to be normal. This is embarrassing but I'm not sure if she was vaccinated for mareks or coccidia (sp?) - I guess I should ask the feed store. Thanks for reading and appreciate any advice!
