Mites?

[Bennythechick]

Her damaged feathers are not going to 'improve'.
She'll look like that until she molts and grows new feathers.

If neither birds have bugs(did you check the roo too?),
there's nothing for the permethrin to kill - so it cannot 'improve' anything.

So her feathers won’t grow back in the bare spots either?
The roo is extremely aggressive so I haven’t had a chance to check him yet. But he looks completely fine. Like I said my friend got the pair and gave them to me. The guy she got them from had no idea what he was doing and barely touched either of them so they aren’t very well socialized.
Im not super new to keeping chickens but haven’t dealt with any bugs before so all this is completely new to me so sorry if I seem completely clueless lol
I figured better be safe than sorry and treat her with the permethrin since someone said it wouldn’t hurt her if she didn’t have them but if you don’t think it’s a good idea I’ll hold off

 

[Ebony Rose]

How's her oil gland look?

 

[Bennythechick]

How's her oil gland look?

Looks completely normal as far as I can tell!

 

[adickenscoop]

That's just the breed, their feathers are like that.

 

[Bennythechick]

That's just the breed, their feathers are like that.

I own many other seramas and have never had any issues with feathers, so I don’t think it’s the breed

 

[aart]

So her feathers won’t grow back in the bare spots either?

When she molts she should grow a full set of new feathers.

Im not super new to keeping chickens

In the (how many?) years you've had chickens, have you experienced molting?

I own many other seramas and have never had any issues with feathers, so I don’t think it’s the breed

This bird does appear to have frizzled feathers...who knows what kind of breeds are in her parentage and crossings that she is a product of.<shrugs>Frizzled feathering can have some odd mutations.

 

[aart]

I figured better be safe than sorry and treat her with the permethrin since someone said it wouldn’t hurt her if she didn’t have them but if you don’t think it’s a good idea I’ll hold off

I don't understand how you don't understand that permethrin is an insecticide and should not be applied if there are not insects to kill.

 

[Bennythechick]

I don't understand how you don't understand that permethrin is an insecticide and should not be applied if there are not insects to kill.

like I said I have never used this before. Someone else had said that it wouldn’t hurt her even if she didn’t have mites/ lice. And I’ve heard of people using it a couple times a year as a preventative.

I’m not 100% sure if there are insects to kill or not, I don’t see any but from what I can tell from reading other threads here, she shows signs that she might have them.

I’m going to hold off from using anything and see if she gets any worse. I’m assuming at this point it is probably just from the rooster picking on her or molting.