Problem with chicken feather shafts growing in spirals and no feathering on the shafts

[hobbychickenfarms]

I have an odd issue with an 8 year old speckled sussex hen that I have never seen before. Lately she has thick feather shafts growing above her tail and around her vent that are spiral shaped and have no feathering on them at all. Has anyone ever seen this before? I can find no info on this type of issue. She eats a 16% layer hen diet and none of my other chickens on the same diet have this type of thing going on. Not sure if its a vitamin deficiency or what would cause this type of thing?
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Pictures would help

 

[hobbychickenfarms]

Sorry, I posted this before I got the pics. These are the feathers at the base of her tail and around her rump. They are straight but have no feathering and never get any either. I could not get a good shot of her vent area where the feather shafts are actually growing either in a coiled shape or arc like an eyebrow shape. They just kinda jut all over the place. She seems fine in every other way, eating, drinking, behavior, etc but she is almost 9 years old. Not sure what would cause this?

 

[Lisa3315]

I've never had a chicken get to such a ripe old age, so this is just a guess - is she maybe getting too stiff/arthritic to preen back there? It looks like there are feathers under the sheath, but she hasn't preened the sheath off yet. I'm not sure what would make the other feathers grow in a spiral or arc shape like you described, but I would guess that they are growing as they always have but she just hasn't been preening the sheath off so they look different than they normally should. Again, this is just a guess

 

[hobbychickenfarms]

Good suggestion! She walks hunched up like she may be arthritic and does preen some but I have not noticed whether she has preened in that area or not. I will keep an eye and see if thats whats going on. If they don't preen it, will it stay featherless like that? Thanks for your response, I appreciate it!

 

[Lisa3315]

I just noticed this thread under the 'Similar Threads' section for your post, it looks like someone else with an older hen is seeing something similar to what's going on with your hen -https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-feathers-not-growing-properly.1446248/
The suggestions they are getting is to leave it alone, and the sheath will eventually come off on its own.

 

[hobbychickenfarms]

Great! Thanks!