Purple feathers

[allmychickens]

Strange patterned barred rocks are usually known as cucko marans ... also I would agree they could have been over-mated and molting really bad or even had a case of mites. I had a few rescue barred rocks last year and they were molting bad too:

Barred rocks and cuckoo maran are completely different breeds.
Eggs from BR

Eggs from cuckoo marans

Another difference is leg color
cuckoo maran have more of a pale pinkish color, where as BR have yellow with black wash

Marans:

Barred rock:

 

[Jayzandra]

She says they were over mated, but I have also been noticing that the Production red is plucking feathers from the others. I read that could mean a lack of protein, but she is the only one doing it, and I have been loading them up on protein to help regrow the feathers. Maybe she's just aggressive? If I separate her for a little while, then reintroduce her, will she drop a few notches?

 

[Jayzandra]

Also, I checked them for mites when I first got them. She did say she has like 50 something birds, so maybe they're over crowded. She delivered them, so I didn't see the living conditions.

 

[Jayzandra]

And she lays cream colored eggs

 

[hdowden]

The green and purple sheen is normal. The purple is blu-kote. The hen isn't a pure bred barred bird, that's why her color looks funky.

That is not baldness from molting, there is or has been something wrong with those birds. Birds don't molt to bare skin as a matter of course, and they don't lay while they're molting, especially if they're molting that hard. Truthfully, I've never seen a bird that bald. Were they horribly over-mated at their previous home?

i have. i had a bad case of feather lice i didnt notice till they were losing feathers and i thought they were molting at first until the feathers never started to grow back thats when i really started looking intoother reasons for the bare spots and it took 3 weeks to finally figure it out, i am surprised i didn't loose any during that time and they kept laying to. i treated them for the lice for several months (including the ground and everything else around) and finally got rid of the lice.

i would make sure to treat them for lice asap, that type of feather lose is not from molting nor over matting from a rooster

 

[hdowden]

she could be a black sex link mated to another blk sex link or a production blk (i think those hens are barred)

 

[Smoochie]

She says they were over mated, but I have also been noticing that the Production red is plucking feathers from the others. I read that could mean a lack of protein, but she is the only one doing it, and I have been loading them up on protein to help regrow the feathers. Maybe she's just aggressive? If I separate her for a little while, then reintroduce her, will she drop a few notches?

Your birds unfortunately have been feather picking which is a form of cannibalism. I just got rid of a sebright just yesterday that was picking and eating another birds feathers like treats. It is also a learned behaviour and soon you will have a group of pickers and even more featherless chickens. Someone along the way clearly knew about the problem (the purple feather's) but clearly it got out of control. Once they get a "taste" for feathers it is virtually impossible to cure even with peepers and no pick solution.

 

[Smoochie]

Also, my chickens are completely spoiled and have tons of room, feeders, waterers, treats, and free range and I still caught one picking. When they molt the emerging feather quills are filled with blood and once they get a taste, they want more.

 

[Chris09]

Your birds unfortunately have been feather picking which is a form of cannibalism. I just got rid of a sebright just yesterday that was picking and eating another birds feathers like treats. It is also a learned behaviour and soon you will have a group of pickers and even more featherless chickens. Someone along the way clearly knew about the problem (the purple feather's) but clearly it got out of control. Once they get a "taste" for feathers it is virtually impossible to cure even with peepers and no pick solution.

Most of the time feather eating has nothing to with cannibalism.
Feather picking is more a problem that can be traced back to either boredom, lice, mites, improper housing, and improper diet (a diet lacking animal protein) are the most common reasons for feather eating.



Quote: Cure the cause and you cure the problem.


Chris

 

[Whittni]

Marans breed of chickens egg color looses color with age of the hen.