Molt or Mites?

[ciaolobster]

Hi BYC Community! I have a Jersey Giant and two Black Stars that I'm a little concerned about (photos attached). They are less than a year old and are three of my 16-strong flock. They each have small bald spots mostly on their necks and shoulders with no pin feathers in sight, and the Giant's back feathers are looking a little dodgy. She has looked this way for about 4+ weeks, the others for about 2-3 weeks. All the other hens and rooster seem to be just fine and do not have any spots like these girls, which leads me to believe (hope?) they are just molting in an odd pattern. Anyone have any insight/suggestions? Thank you very much!

 

[azygous]

With molt, you will see uniform emerging pin feathers. I see none in your photos.

The pattern appears to be that of rooster mating damage. If you don't have a rooster with access to these hens, then the damage is being caused by feather picking by other hens.

Yes, there is a small chance this is from feather mites. To cover that possibility, it's simple enough to treat them with permethrin poultry dusting powder.

 

[ciaolobster]

Ack! Thank you for the info! Any ideas how to prevent the mating damage moving forward, other than remove them from the flock? Like I said, the other hens seem to be completely fine.

 

[ChloeSilkie08]

Ack! Thank you for the info! Any ideas how to prevent the mating damage moving forward, other than remove them from the flock? Like I said, the other hens seem to be completely fine.

They have hen saddles that protect the hens. You could also use Diatomaceous Earth for mite treatment. I would continually put DE in your coop no matter what to prevent mites in the future.

 

[azygous]

No. DE does not kill mites. It may make the environment uncomfortable for them, but it also makes the environment uncomfortable for your chickens as it is made up of sharp edged skeletons of sea creatures that are awfully hard on respiratory systems, human as well. You need to use a safe around chickens insecticide proven to kill these pests. Permethrin is a natural biological product that actually accomplishes this.

Hen saddles do work as long as the hen is agreeable to wearing one. Not all will tolerate having it on them.

Segregating roosters from hens and allowing limited access is one true method of curbing hen mating damage.

 

[B-Goock]

If its overmating then increase your number of hens to roo ratio or build a rooster coop. Only introduce him when you want fertilized eggs for incubating. 10:1
My quail are at 10:1 and the hens still get some ruffed up feathers. Think recommended for quail fertility is 5:1.