Overnight feather loss

[Henry10]

Hi,
I’ve only been keeping chickens since the spring without any problems, until this week. They were fine on Monday, but yesterday when I went to feed them…one had lost all her feathers around her vent, and another two are also showing signs of feather loss. They’re all eating, happy foraging and I haven’t noticed any pecking. Confused really this could happen so quickly. I did put bubble wrap on top of their coop to insulate it for the winter, but I can’t see how that would create heat stress. I can’t see any mites or mice either. Any advice would be really appreciated.

 

[Cheekychook11]

This could be moulting maybe, are they getting pin feathers where the others were lost?

 

[Henry10]

I haven’t noticed any, but I’ll keep an eye on them to see if they appear. Thanks for your thoughtsIt’s just occurred to me that I have been giving them peas to get them back in the run, I wonder if they’re too high in sugar. It can’t do any harm to stop them to see if it makes a difference. Just a little worrying it’s happened so quickly.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi,
I’ve only been keeping chickens since the spring without any problems, until this week. They were fine on Monday, but yesterday when I went to feed them…one had lost all her feathers around her vent, and another two are also showing signs of feather loss. They’re all eating, happy foraging and I haven’t noticed any pecking. Confused really this could happen so quickly. I did put bubble wrap on top of their coop to insulate it for the winter, but I can’t see how that would create heat stress. I can’t see any mites or mice either. Any advice would be really appreciated.

Can you post photos?

Depending on age, fall/winter is often the time of year for molting, so the loss may be due to molt.

 

[Henry10]

Can you post photos?

Depending on age, fall/winter is often the time of year for molting, so the loss may be due to molt.

Thanks for replying…they’re just under a year old. I’m really hoping it is molting rather than mites.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

That's feather loss due to plucking.

 

[Henry10]

That's feather loss due to plucking.

You’re absolutely right…I’ve just got back from feeding them and for the first time I saw it happen. I’ll up their protein content, I can’t see how it can be down to boredom going by how much time they spend foraging outside the run. Thanks everyone for your thoughts…