my chook is losing all of its feathers very suddenly help!

[alphonzo]

yesterday my chicken started losing feathers at a really rapid pace i think nearly half of them are gone and it is nearly winter. the other chicknes aren't really allowing it to eat and it has just stopped being broody please help i don't know what to do please help

 

[bloomnbeauty]

Your chicken is probably going through her hard molt. They do that at the onset of winter here. All of them will do it. Some more noticeable than others. If nothing else seems wrong I would make sure she is getting food and water. You might want to remove her from the others for a time so she doesn't get picked on.

 

[SpottedCrow]

Sounds like a hard moult...poor thing...being broody and moulting are hormonal things, so it seems like it's a double whammy. You can feed her some catfood to help grow the feathers in a bit easier. I used TenderVittles which I can't find anymore, but any should be okay because it had a lot of protein in it.

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

what is her breed?
I would use
natural probiotic
3 tbsp of dry crumbles
6 tbsp of milk, sweet, sour or buttermilk
1 tbsp of yougart non flavored
do this and she should be okay with the other chickens
then she won't have to fight for pecking order

I would make the wet probiotic mash for all of the chickens she is with
use the recipe for each chicken there
it will give them all some good gut flora
also if you bring her in to the heat it will only delay the feathers growing out faster
as cool weather makes the feathers come out faster

she will set beside other chickens and be okay

if they are prone to pecking
hang a head of cabbage wrapped in chicken wire hang from ceiling to about 12-18 inches from the floor
dhe will be okay