No feathers

[dunmovin]

We recently were given 4 hens because their owner didn’t want them anymore. 3 of the hens have missing feathers under their wings and 1 hen has a bare bottom. She said the last one was born that way. We have them separated for now until they get used to our chickens. Their exposed skin is pink. They are about a year old. Any ideas why they have lost their feathers and will they come back?

 

[coach723]

I would first look them over for any lice/mites, info and pictures here to help:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/
If you find signs of that then that will need to be dealt with first, it can really weaken them.
Do you know what kind of conditions they were kept in? If the conditions were crowded then feather picking is possible. There may have been dietary reasons for it. Stress can be a factor. Do you know if there were roosters with them before? Feather loss under the wings could possibly be from rooster mounting. A bare butt is often from feather picking on the roost at night. Give them a thorough going over, check for anything wrong, lice/mites, wounds or sores, are they thin, fat, normal, etc. Get them on a good balanced feed with plenty of fresh water, and hopefully with time they will start looking better. If they molt this year, that will probably help a lot. They usually molt once they are about 18 months old, but some will molt earlier. When you see pinfeathers on them, you will know it's molt.

 

[dunmovin]

Thank you so much for the information! You have been so helpful. Their conditions weren’t good and they seem to be very content with us. Hopefully we can get them back healthy again. Thanks again!

 

[dunmovin]

I would first look them over for any lice/mites, info and pictures here to help:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/
If you find signs of that then that will need to be dealt with first, it can really weaken them.
Do you know what kind of conditions they were kept in? If the conditions were crowded then feather picking is possible. There may have been dietary reasons for it. Stress can be a factor. Do you know if there were roosters with them before? Feather loss under the wings could possibly be from rooster mounting. A bare butt is often from feather picking on the roost at night. Give them a thorough going over, check for anything wrong, lice/mites, wounds or sores, are they thin, fat, normal, etc. Get them on a good balanced feed with plenty of fresh water, and hopefully with time they will start looking better. If they molt this year, that will probably help a lot. They usually molt once they are about 18 months old, but some will molt earlier. When you see pinfeathers on them, you will know it's molt.

Thank you so much for the information! You have been so helpful. Their conditions weren’t good and they seem to be very content with us. Hopefully we can get them back healthy again. Thanks again!

Here is an update on my chickens. We dusted them all to make sure they didn’t have lice. We spent several days just sitting out watching them and there were 2 of the new chickens pulling out the others feathers and eating them! Apparently this happens when they are very low on protein. We started heavily feeding them with a combination of laying pellets, sunflowers, milkworms, scratch and a dab of de.Plus vegetable scraps and boiled eggs. The new ones just devour it all and seem to not be pulling feathers. They are great layers and seem to be responding well to just good care. All of the girls seem to be adapting well to each other.