Opinions on molting?

[FluffyBottomBantams]

I’ve got a hen who is older. Between two and a half or three years and a Blue d’Uccle. She molts all the time!!!!! Is this normal in older chickens? I think she’s molted twice since I bought her from a breeder in January and she was coming out of a molt even then! She is at the bottom of the pecking order and does get picked on quite a bit, so could it be stress related?

 

[centrarchid]

Something is amiss. Could you post a picture of her? Include pictures of her wings extended as well as tail flared a little better than in last picture? I am looking first for odd replacement pattern of flight feathers. Pictures below nominal. Then looking at feathers on body. Does she have broody patch exposed?

 

[FluffyBottomBantams]

Will do. I’m going out in a bit to take let them out I’ll get pics then .

 

[FluffyBottomBantams]

The second to last is of her lower body cavity area if that makes sense, it’s just pin feathers. I thought it might be useful to note she has less than mild case of mites. It’s been an uphill battle this spring, but she definitely doesn’t have it the worst so I’d find it odd if she’s losing feathers from a couple of bugs.

 

[centrarchid]

External parasite treatment needed. The skin irritation is causing her to drop feathers prematurely.

 

[FluffyBottomBantams]

Ugh I was afraid of that. They’re due for another treatment anyway. We are going to have to dip their feet in the stuff because they are also in the foot feathers. Pesky buggers

 

[FluffyBottomBantams]

Oh and Thank you for all the help. It’s been quite the struggle with mites this spring after bringing them home from a show.

 

[centrarchid]

I typically deal only with light external parasite loads because I move the chickens around a lot and swap out bedding frequently. Plus they have access to good dust bathing. The mites and lice are not totally absent, but they are not abundant enough to cause trouble. The exception is with a pair of layer flocks that kept penned in the same location for extended periods of time.

 

[FluffyBottomBantams]

Same here but it tends to be worse in the d’Uccle pen because the bedding gets cleaned out less, it’s more of a deep littler setup to help keep their foot feathers in good shape. The roosters will have it the worst then his most frequent hens will get it from him. Nasty things(the mites not the roosters heh)