Missing a lot of Feathers

[Melody102]

Hi everyone, I am helping someone out who has never had chickens before. He got them about a week ago and previous to me coming into the picture today I have heard he already lost the first 5 he had to a fox and they have escaped atleast 3 times by pushing out of holes along the fence. Now I posted another thread about some of them having missing back feathers but then as I was looking them all over I found one that looks really really terrible and it breaks my heart. Anyone have any ideas what might be going on here?

I can’t catch her, she’s much too skittish but I got some photos through the fence. I also took photos of the similar back damage and wing feather damage (which I think is form pushing out of the fencing?) on a different chicken I could catch. I wasn’t able to find anything moving around so I don’t think lice or mites. Any ideas on how I can make her more comfortable and to figure out what might be causing this?

It was suggested on my other post to check the protein amount, I’ll be doing that tomorrow when I see them.

 

[Emma_Bruffy]

Do they have roosters? Mine looked like that when my hen to rooster ratio was off. That looks like an over mated hen to me. The roosters rub the feathers off their wings and back. You can give her extra protein and they should grow back

 

[Jeanw]

Hi, I would fix the fence ASAP Or at least block the holes. I would make sure they are eating a quality feed and have full access to fresh water all the time. Also, did he get these chickens from someone else? They may have had a rough life before. Is there a rooster with them? What is the ratio of hen to rooster? Possible over enthusiastic rooster. What are the coop conditions? are the hens aggressive to each other?