Molt or Mites

[THAMM17]

They are a year old and having some feather issues. It started with one chicken and slowly they have all had various bald patches with the worst being my Rhode Island reds. About half of them have bare butts, some feathers missing on their necks. Half of them seem unphased and have normal feathers. I do not see any visible mites or lice on them/in the coop. I do not have a rooster anymore. I ordered chick starter to mix in with their feed to up protein content thinking they may be in a molt but after further reading I’m concerned they have depluming mites. I have attached pictures if you are willing to give me any advice it would be really appreciated I am not sure where to go from here to help them/ if I should go a different route before I treat them all.

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi,

For lice and mites, even though you're not sure, it will not hurt to dust every chicken, the coop, nests, and roosts with permethrin powder. Be sure to get their rumps and under their wings. Some people put the powder in a nylon sock and pat that all over their chickens.

Great idea to give them chick starter for the protein! An all-flock would be close to the same thing, but a little cheaper and you could keep them on that if you wanted. It's lower calcium so you'd have to give them oyster shell in a separate dish, or somehow compensate for the lower calcium.

If it were feather plucking, that usually comes from two main reasons; too low of protein in their diet, and overcrowding. For coops, each chicken should have 4 square feet, and in a run, at least 10 square feet, preferably 15.