Thistledown
In the Brooder
I have an 11 month old banty frizzle who has been well until about 2 months ago, when she started to lose feathers. At this point she has no rump or tail feathers (although still has feathering around the vent with no signs of diarrhea) and is missing feathers on her sides, and some on the back of her head.
She has lived in a mixed breed flock of 8 hens she was the only bantam), with a friendly silkie rooster who was very, very active. He has been gone for 2 weeks now, and although all the hens have some feather loss as a result of his attention, none of them look like my frizzle.
Up until a month ago she was one of my best layers, but hatched a clutch a week ago and has not started laying again yet.
She is as active as always, and eats well. No one, including her chicks, is having any feather issues. I have seen no sign of mites or lice.
Could this feather loss be from being 'over-ridden', but in that case would her rump and tail feathers be missing? It could maybe be an out of season molt? Or could she be sick?
The rest of my flock was sold yesterday. She didn't go because I would hate to inadvertently sell a sick bird. But this leaves her alone in the yard.
I am in a rush to figure this out so that I can find a solution for her.
Thanks
She has lived in a mixed breed flock of 8 hens she was the only bantam), with a friendly silkie rooster who was very, very active. He has been gone for 2 weeks now, and although all the hens have some feather loss as a result of his attention, none of them look like my frizzle.
Up until a month ago she was one of my best layers, but hatched a clutch a week ago and has not started laying again yet.
She is as active as always, and eats well. No one, including her chicks, is having any feather issues. I have seen no sign of mites or lice.
Could this feather loss be from being 'over-ridden', but in that case would her rump and tail feathers be missing? It could maybe be an out of season molt? Or could she be sick?
The rest of my flock was sold yesterday. She didn't go because I would hate to inadvertently sell a sick bird. But this leaves her alone in the yard.
I am in a rush to figure this out so that I can find a solution for her.
Thanks
