Massive, fast feather loss

[MarieNC]

My 1.5 year old RIR hen Cornelia Marie has lost a massive amount of feathers in the last couple of days. She is isolated from the other hens so I know it's her. It looks like she exploded! Feathers everywhere! I have seen the girls molt but this looks like nothing I've seen before. I've checked her for mites and she is fine. Can this be a version of molting or should I be looking for something else? She acts fine, eats and drinks normally. She just looks very raggedy all over, mostly on her neck, chest and back. I mean I can pick her up and feathers fall off her.

 

[Sjisty]

As long as she is acting fine, I would guess it is just a major molt. It can look pretty severe sometimes!

 

[chicmom]

Hi Marie!

Sometimes chickens will have a gradual molt, so they never look too bad, just a bit raggedy. Then other times they look almost naked! It's shocking!

Don't worry, I think her feathers will grow back quickly.

Sharon

 

[Kaeta44]

Sounds like a major moult to me too. My Blue Orpington had a completely bare patch running along the length of her spine and also lost feathers round her legs. She looked ridiculous, but all her feathers are growing back again and she'll soon return to her former glory.

If your RIR is still eating, drinking and behaving normally, then her feather loss is worrying you far more than its worrying her!

http://muckycluckers.blogspot.com/

 

[MarieNC]

Thank you all! I can relax now!