Missing and damaged feathers

[Chickens :)]

Hi everyone! I have a Lohman hen that is just over 4 years old now. She still lays which is amazing because all of the others from her breed have already stopped laying. I have noticed though that her feathers have started to look really ruff and damaged and she is missing some feathers. I have checked her for mites and I regularly do treat them for it. I was thinking maybe she has a might underneath her skin or maybe it's just old age?

 

[Chickens :)]

 

[pennyJo1960]

what you describing is molt your image did not load

 

[Chickens :)]

i thought about that but I thought it would've grown back by now. It's been about 1 month which is why I thought it might be something.

 

[pennyJo1960]

i thought about that but I thought it would've grown back by now. It's been about 1 month which is why I thought it might be something.

would you try to post picture again

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry, your photo did not load, can you try again?

From your description, it sounds like she is molting. Each bird molts and regrows feathers at their own rate, unfortunately some birds seem to take forever A month is not that long in terms of molting, I have one girl that takes about 2 1/2 months or so.

Offer your girl some extra protein like egg, tuna or meat as a daily treat. Once a week add some poultry vitamins to her water.

Look forward to your photos

 

[pennyJo1960]

I would like to say she is moulting this can take 2 or more months often a bird will feel off or out of sorts as this occurs giving scrambled eggs or tuna can help them often times

 

[BennieAnTheJets]

I know less about chickens than just about anyone - we only have Guineas - may well be that your bird is molting - again, the other chicken experts on this forum know best

only 2 cents worth of my experience: we had two other problems with feathers, 1) feather mites and 2) a strange case of feathers not growing back that miraculously resolved with an antibiotic after a vet visit - go figure!

the mites presented with feathers being split in the quill while still on the bird and other wise healthy and the ones that came off would not have the full quill on them but be strangely "sawed off" as if a tiny saw had cut them off, with the rest still in the bird - the birds were also itching and scratching with some of them getting scabs - that was hard to treat but we got it eventually

the other was different - Peggy Sue got bald spots, like the one shown, she got more and more and never grew any feathers back - until the antibiotic - then the new feathers came in within a week

having contributed our two examples, I hope yours is just a long molt, like others have suggested - just wanted to add these examples for information in case it helps someone

 

[Chickens :)]

Tell me if this works

 

[Chickens :)]

Your Guineas feather loss looks exactly how my chicken looks. I think hers is more like the feathers are not growing back at all. Thank you for your input. Do you suggest I talk to a vet about it and see if It is fixable?