My chicken is hideous. Why?

[Mickey M]

I have nine chickens, and eight of them are in perfect health. I've never had a single problem. In the past three months, this chicken, Felicia, has begun losing her feathers. She used to be bright white and fluffy, with feathers soft as a puppy. Her sister, Bullecia, still looks like Felicia used to. Pictures of both of them will accompany this thread.

She is also by far our most socialized chicken. During the summer, she actually comes into the house and collects bugs. She is the only chicken we have who knows to go back outside before she poops. In short, she is just a very smart chicken.

Could her level of socialization be causing this feather loss? She gets a little stressed out if we don't let her in first thing in the morning. Thing is, I don't see her cleaning herself the way the other chickens do. She doesn't sit and preen for hours like they do.

 

[Chickassan]

Looks like everyone is molting in those pictures. And she isn't hideous.

 

[JaeG]

It's more apparent on your white girl because she's not like your other 'production' breed which are designed not to go through a 'full' moult so that they can keep laying. And chickens will moult at different times, some in early Autumn, some wait until it's really cold! Some moult quickly, some take forever to get back to looking gorgeous. Her sister does look like she's starting by the missing tail feathers (I'm assuming that's Bullecia looking more fluffy?).

Those are all Felicia's new pin feathers coming through. Moulting can be painful for them and they can be quite miserable, hiding away from the rest of the flock. Hopefully she'll be back to her former, fluffy self soon. She sounds like a doll!

 

[Hybridchucks]

She aint hideous

 

[Mickey M]

You're quite nice. I just don't get why Felicia got stuck in this molting phase.

It's more apparent on your white girl because she's not like your other 'production' breed which are designed not to go through a 'full' moult so that they can keep laying. And chickens will moult at different times, some in early Autumn, some wait until it's really cold! Some moult quickly, some take forever to get back to looking gorgeous. Her sister does look like she's starting by the missing tail feathers (I'm assuming that's Bullecia looking more fluffy?).

Those are all Felicia's new pin feathers coming through. Moulting can be painful for them and they can be quite miserable, hiding away from the rest of the flock. Hopefully she'll be back to her former, fluffy self soon. She sounds like a doll!

I don't have any production breed, though. I mean, they lay, but I'm more interested in their ability to get rid of pests and be funny backyard creatures. The others are in various stages of moulting, but looking back at pictures, I've come to realize that it's been since spring that Felicia has looked like this. I am just concerned that I've turned her into a house chicken by accident and that being outside is stressing her unduly.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

So those long spears with straggly traces of feathers are normal? That's how some chickens molt? They don't lose those long wing feathers; they just kind of get weird looking?

She's hideously cute!

 

[Sunshine Flock]

You're quite nice. I just don't get why Felicia got stuck in this molting phase.


I don't have any production breed, though. I mean, they lay, but I'm more interested in their ability to get rid of pests and be funny backyard creatures. The others are in various stages of moulting, but looking back at pictures, I've come to realize that it's been since spring that Felicia has looked like this. I am just concerned that I've turned her into a house chicken by accident and that being outside is stressing her unduly.

And if she goes outside to poop, I'll trade you two chihuahua things for your hen!!

 

[Mickey M]

And if she goes outside to poop, I'll trade you two chihuahua things for your hen!!

She's ridiculous. She even makes a specific sound when she sees me that she otherwise never makes. I feel like she has named me or something. She's like a dog.

 

[rebrascora]

That doesn't look like normal moulting to me..... those feather shafts look to have been stripped. I don't think they are pin feathers. Is she a meat bird? They tend to have poorer quality feathers anyway, but I was wondering if she has depluming mites. Have you looked her over thoroughly for lice and mites..... you won't see depluming mites because they are microscopic, but it might be worth checking for other external parasites. Her shoulders look particularly red.... do you have a cockerel/rooster? Just wondering if she is getting over mated and with already having poor quality feathers, they are being damaged by mating.
It might just be the camera angle but her comb looks a bad (purpleish) colour too... Meat birds often don't manage to make it past their first birthday if you can get them that far.... not preening and dust bathing is usually a sign that a bird is sick.

 

[Mickey M]

Her comb got bit in a fight on tuesday. Floppy gets really annoyed if someone is in her nesting spot, and Felicia was there. I thought mites might be the case, and I've had her bathing in diatomaceous earth a few times. None of the other chickens are showing similar symptoms.

I have no roosters. Also, if these were meat birds, we should've had them last year. They're just cute funny pets.

Her feathers used to feel like microfiber, like Bullecia's. Now they're all hard and brittle. Poor girl. I'm looking forward to figuring this out.