molting

[joanbrooks]

Ok I have 4 hens and a rooster. all of them are loosing feathers a lot. even the rooster. the hens are barely a yr old and not sure about the rooster. they are free range except for scratch grain I put out for them to eat in the am before I let them out for the day. should I be concerned? it is going to get cold soon here in oklahoma

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Ok I have 4 hens and a rooster. all of them are loosing feathers a lot. even the rooster. the hens are barely a yr old and not sure about the rooster. they are free range except for scratch grain I put out for them to eat in the am before I let them out for the day. should I be concerned? it is going to get cold soon here in oklahoma

So, if I am reading this correctly you are not providing any "complete" feed for them? At their age it is not likely to be a full-on molt causing feather loss - more likely, based on the information above, it is caused by either a nutritional deficiency leading to feather picking to gain protein and/or an external parasite issue. What breed(s) are your birds?

 

[joanbrooks]

not really sure what they are. know they are "full sized" . not bantys anyway. not real up on breeds. bought them earlier this spring. they were about 7 months then. They seem to be growing some back. I know they do pick on each other in the evening when I put them up.but the rooster is a road island red that much I know and he has lost all his long tail feathers and around the neck lost a lot. the girls are loosing them all over. what would you suggest ? sorry to be so ignorant about this I am new to this

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

not really sure what they are. know they are "full sized" . not bantys anyway. not real up on breeds. bought them earlier this spring. they were about 7 months then. They seem to be growing some back. I know they do pick on each other in the evening when I put them up.but the rooster is a road island red that much I know and he has lost all his long tail feathers and around the neck lost a lot. the girls are loosing them all over. what would you suggest ? sorry to be so ignorant about this I am new to this

The other possiblity is that you were mislead as to their age when you purchased them - which would come back around to them maybe being closer to 18 moths than a year, and that would put them at the age to expect a molt.

 

[joanbrooks]

the lady I got them from said they had just all started laying when I got them late spring. so if they are not old enough to molt what would you suggest I do?

 

[copper2]

Are you feeding them just scratch? No oyster shell, or layer?

 

[joanbrooks]

they have been free range all summer. about a month ago they all starting loosing feathers bad. I had been putting out scratch grains. I got some higher protein feed today as someone suggested that. no oyster shell. do you think the scratch grains is causing this

 

[copper2]

Possibly. Recently I switched to layer, because scratch didn't have enough protein, making the chickens peck each other's feathers. I think some people force molt chickens, by starving them, not sure though.

 

[joanbrooks]

I have started on layer today. they ate it up. I give them fruits and vegs not sure what else to give them. the grasshoppers were aplenty this summer but about the time they started going away the chickens did start loosing a lot of feathers. is there something else I can get them to beef them back up?

 

[cicknmama]

I have started on layer today. they ate it up. I give them fruits and vegs not sure what else to give them. the grasshoppers were aplenty this summer but about the time they started going away the chickens did start loosing a lot of feathers. is there something else I can get them to beef them back up?

I would increase their protein until they grow all of their feathers feathers back. You can feed them scrambled eggs, oats, black oil sunflower seeds and such. I feed extra protein during a molt, just a little each day. If you want a commercial feed, feather fixer has 18% protein. This can be fed in place of your layer feed. Hope this helps.