Poor Feather Health - Please Help with Finding the Cause

[Jazzin]

I have a hen that has patches of feathers with snapped shafts and loss of barbs on her neck and breast; images are attached below.
She lives with one silkie hen that is quick to put her in her place by grabbing her by a feather in the region with broken feathers, but from what I've observed isn't a bully. In fact, the two are virtually inseparable most of the time. I treated the two for lice recently, but the hen with all of the feather breakage had hardly any nits on her, while the silkie had a more serious problem but only some feather damage on her belly and none on her neck/breast, making me unsure that this is the cause, neither. I have considered depluming mites and I am very curious about them, but I haven't been able to find much information on diagnosing them and it seems to me that most birds with depluming mites rip their feathers out entirely and don't leave the shafts, leaving me unsure once more. Perhaps there is a combination of problems causing this? It seems to be very slowly getting worse over time. Any opinions are welcome, and thank you for the help.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She lives with one silkie hen that is quick to put her in her place by grabbing her by a feather in the region with broken feathers, but from what I've observed isn't a bully.

I treated the two for lice recently, but the hen with all of the feather breakage had hardly any nits on her, while the silkie had a more serious problem but only some feather damage on her belly and none on her neck/breast, making me unsure that this is the cause, neither.

seems to be very slowly getting worse over time.

Getting slowly worse over time...but the Silkie pulls her feathers, so it would be logical that the breakage and loss would get worse as time goes by.

What did you use to treat the Lice? A permethrin based poultry dust can work well. Put the dust in a sock, then use it like a powder puff to dust all over the bird, working the dust all the way through the feathers to the skin. Repeat in 5-7day intervals for a few weeks.

If she still has nits in the feathers, you can either pull those out or put some coconut oil on them to help loosen the egg sacs to reduce the numbers. Put the nits in a sealed container and dispose of them.

Broken and damaged feathers will not be replaced until molt.

 

[Jazzin]

Thank you for your help!

I used Elector PSP for the lice and am currently monitoring to see if they return. I do believe that the Silkie is responsible for some of the damage, but not all of it.

Along with what can be seen in the image, my hen has some damaged feathers(missing barbs at feather base) around and between her wattles, which I find strange because I don't think that either hen could reach that spot very easily. Will lice damage the feathers by themselves, or do they just cause the bird to itch them to the point that they break?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you for your help!

I used Elector PSP for the lice and am currently monitoring to see if they return. I do believe that the Silkie is responsible for some of the damage, but not all of it.

Along with what can be seen in the image, my hen has some damaged feathers(missing barbs at feather base) around and between her wattles, which I find strange because I don't think that either hen could reach that spot very easily. Will lice damage the feathers by themselves, or do they just cause the bird to itch them to the point that they break?

Lice can damage the feathers over a period of time and of course the birds preening/picking at the feathers contributes to the damage as well.

Between the wattles... is she sticking her head through fencing and perhaps rubbing some feathers off?

Elector PSP is supposed to be quite effective in treating poultry lice and mites.

 

[Jazzin]

She lives inside of a run for most of the day, when I'm not home, but the holes are too small for her to stick her head through. Now that I think about it, though, my chickens have an Omlet feeder that has a slit that they eat through. Do you think that could be causing it? As far as I know, the edges of the feeder's slit are smooth.

 

[someonewholovesgeese]

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She lives inside of a run for most of the day, when I'm not home, but the holes are too small for her to stick her head through. Now that I think about it, though, my chickens have an Omlet feeder that has a slit that they eat through. Do you think that could be causing it? As far as I know, the edges of the feeder's slit are smooth.

possibly... maybe check and if their not then sand it down (you will need a mask if its plastic)