Missing feathers

[Leecee]

Help!
I'm not sure what happened but I came home to a yard full of feathers. My three girls free range in a sectioned off area of my back yard. I came home in daylight to feathers from two girls everywhere. Most the feathers were from one In particular. Feathers were also inside the coop on the ground and in their second floor bedroom. The amount of feathers seems excessive to have come from another chickens attack.
Anyway the mostly affected girl is missing about half of her feathers. It's winter now and I'm concerned she will be cold. I put a saddle on her ( not sure if it's heavy enough) and a heater in the coop ( where she's spending a lot of time. Am I doing everything I can for her? She's also stopped laying eggs. I'm worried about her. Any advise would be great! Thanks

 

[azygous]

Where you live, are there hawks? It sounds like a hawk strafed your chickens and managed to liberate one's back feathers in an attempt to nail her. I had this happen to a pullet of mine a few years ago. The amount of feathers outside my bedroom slider told a sad tale of a dead chicken, but I found her hiding in the coop missing all of her back feathers.

 

[Leecee]

Yes I did consider this maybe I scarred the hawk off before the girls got to injured but I didn't hear a thing.
Do you have any idea how long it will take to grow the feathers back?
Thanks for the response

 

[azygous]

How old is this hen? It depends on her individual ability to grow new feathers. My pullet had never molted when she lost her back feathers since she was just six months old or so. I expected she would pop out new feather forthwith since they had been plucked cleanly. However, she took a full year to regrow her feathers, and it wasn't until it was time for her first molt. Actually, she didn't molt for the first time until she was nearly two. A real individual if there ever was one.

Don't worry about your bareback hen being cold. She will manage.

 

[townchicks]

They could also be molting. How old are your chickens? Molting will stop egg production.

 

[Leecee]

How old is this hen? It depends on her individual ability to grow new feathers. My pullet had never molted when she lost her back feathers since she was just six months old or so. I expected she would pop out new feather forthwith since they had been plucked cleanly. However, she took a full year to regrow her feathers, and it wasn't until it was time for her first molt. Actually, she didn't molt for the first time until she was nearly two. A real individual if there ever was one.

Don't worry about your bareback hen being cold. She will manage.

 

[Leecee]

She's a year old. Do you think the feathers will grow back?
Thanks for the reassurance on her managing the cold. I've been super worried about her.

 

[Leecee]

They could also be molting. How old are your chickens? Molting will stop egg production.

 

[Leecee]

It was a mess of feathers in about 2 hours. Something definitely pulled them out. I'm hoping the feathers will come back
Thanks for the response

 

[azygous]

Probably not molt since the feathers were lost in such a noticeable quantity all at once. Even a juvenile molt doesn't produce such feather loss.

It's anyone's guess as to when the feathers will grow back in, but they will. You can be certain of it. Try to be patient.