Plucking their own feathers

[jjoseph4286]

Hi, for months My chickens have had bare spots and and the area looks red. I originally thought they were picking on each other but I've started separating them and it looks like they are doing it to themselves. The chicken I have separated right now is missing feathers all on her chest and it looks very red and irritated so it looks like she is doing it herself. I had them checked for mites and they are fine there. I also give them food scraps and black soldier fly larva for extra protein. Any thoughts? im starting to get worried as we head to winter that they will freeze without their feathers.

 

[azygous]

They won't freeze with bald patches. But it's important to find out why this may be happening. With a bit more information, maybe we can help.

Where are you? Country?

How old are your chickens and what breeds?

How large in square footage are run and coop?

What do you feed and protein content percent?

Rooster(s)?

 

[jjoseph4286]

Thanks for your help!

Im in Connecticut

they are 1 1/2 years old

I have 6 hens and no roosters
Run is about 20x22
Coup is 4x4, which i know is a bit small but even the chicken outside of the coup that i have separated is still doing it.

I feed them Netrena 16% protein layer feed. They get food scraps and black soldier fly larva as treats. The occasional free range but very often.

I actually took a couple of them to the vet as i am new at this and she confirmed it is not mites or lice. at the time we thought they were picking on each other (which they are) but i didn't realize they were pulling out the feathers themselves.

 

[Tonyroo]

They sound like there molting. I would stop the layer feed and switch them to 20% protein feed.

My own hens did the same thing, but they are getting close to done with molting. Except for my Wyandotte, she taking longer and very bald still with pin feathers coming out. They haven't laid any eggs since they started.

 

[azygous]

Most of your signs point to molt. Your chickens are old enough to be entering their first molt. To determine if they are now molting, look carefully at all of the bald areas on each chicken. If you see uniform new pin feathers covering the areas, it's molt. Molt can begin as early as August and take until January to complete. Usually, the necks and butts are the first noticeable areas of molt, moving to wing pits and wings, then finishing with tail feathers. Examine all of these areas for pin feathers that look like pin cushions.

This isn't to say that some feather picking isn't also occurring. Often, pin feathers offer an attractive "snack" because of the blood in them. This can develop into a habit where both the owner of the feathers and her mates will pluck them out. This can retard the process of molting. Painting Blu-kote on the bald areas can camouflage the pink skin and pin feathers to make them less noticeable.

During molt, egg laying drops off and sometimes stops until after feather regrowth is completed. Feeding extra protein may be necessary when your feed is below 18% protein. My flock gets 20% protein feed but I still offer high grade animal protein during molt to augment their protein intake. Feather building requires a lot of protein.

To make sure you don't also have a coop mite issue, go out after dark and wipe a damp paper towel over the roosts. If you see red smears, you may have coop mites on top of everything else. They come out at night to suck blood from the chickens and can cause anemia and at the very least, irritated skin.