I have a problem similar to al6517 posted at 7:37 p.m. today. My husband and I bought 30 some chicks last year. All female. Five different breeds. Three of these breeds have been what we are assuming is molting. This has been going on for the last four months or so. It seems to have hit the Buckeyes and the Rhode Island Reds the worst. They have lost feathers from the base of their tails to about halfway up their backs and all the way down to their legs. They are literally bald in those areas. New feathers have started to come in, only to disappear again. Don't know if they are being pecked off by other chickens or are molting off. We lost our second chicken today because other chickens pecked it to death. By the time I found it this morning, it was in really bad shape and died later today. If we notice that a chicken looks like it is being pecked, we've isolated it from the others until the feathers have grown in. Unfortunately, with limited space, the only way we can separate them is to keep them in crates in a room seldom used in our house. Other than the molting, they appear to be healthy. Our egg production is down a little, but we've been told that's not uncommon this time of year. We do have lights set on a timer so they get approximately 14 hours of light a day. However, I should mention that we have had some intermittent power outages that have affected the lights a little. Since we are relatively new to raising chickens, we would appreciate any help any of you can provide. Thanks!
