regrowing feathers? How?

[Schreib69]

Our favorite hen, Rosie, lost a bunch of feathers from Red the Rooster riding her too much this spring and then lost more on her back. . . maybe from Sparky pecking her, who knows. . . Anyway, I was hoping some one out here could recommend some special potion to help her feathers regrow. . . it has been months and her skin is read and apparently irritated, devoid of feathers!

lots of stuff out there I see to help wounds heal but looking for something specific and proven.

 

[Eggcessive]

How old is Rosie? Usually chickens molt at around 18 months old and then every 12 months thereafter. Once they lose a bunch of feathers from overmating, it can take until the next yearly molt for feathers to grow back in. A hen saddle/apron can sometimes help. Watch for feather picking as well. Feather picking occurs usually because of boredom, over crowding, not enough protein in the diet, and not getting outside to roam. Make sure she is getting at least 16% protein, and offer a bit of cooked egg or bits of tuna to regrow her feathers. How big is your run and how many chickens are in there?

 

[Schreib69]

How old is Rosie? Usually chickens molt at around 18 months old and . . . her feathers. How big is your run and how many chickens are in there?

Thanks for all the suggestions.

She IS exactly 18 mo old, so maybe we should see some improvement from that alone, great.
Run is about 10 x 12 with six chickens; + coop is about 7ft square, 2 nests. Two young roosters but one will not be long in this world. So, only five shortly. The other better not get out of hand or he will end up like "Red"- in the pot!

My wife made a saddle based on someone's design and it fails to cover her wing elbows which is one of the worst areas. . . need a better design.

Rosie is not very tolerant of it but hard to tell: have not really left it on her for any period of time since it fails the first test!

 

[coach723]

There are some saddles that cover that area, I've put one image below, maybe you can modify yours. If you search for "hen saddles" you will get a fair number of different styles people sell. When they have the wing covers they also sometimes have a strap that goes around the front of the neck, depends on the particular design. Just make sure it fits correctly as that could cause injury or strangulation if it got hung up on something. Just something to be aware of. I made mine without that strap, just tacked down the wing covers a little differently. I only used a neck strap on one bird who was an escape artist who got out of the thing all the time. Some birds take a while to get used to them, and some don't get too bothered. Once you decide she's going to wear it, it's best to leave it on until you are done with it. I would just keep an eye on her til she gets used to it, so she isn't attacked for acting strange while she gets used to it, or crate her in the run until she gets used to it.
2 roos and 4 hens is going to mean beat up girls. Even one roo to 4 hens may still mean beat up girls. A good starting number is 10 hens per roo, so they don't get over mated. That number varies depending on the birds themselves. I've had as few as 8 per and it has worked, and with some roos you need 10 or 12. The more submissive hens will also get more attention and be the most beat up. The more space you have also allows the girls more chance to get away and say no sometimes. Cockerels (male under 1 year old) are very often total jerks, their hormones are raging and they have no manners. Sometimes you have to separate them until they are older and calm down some. But they are always going to do what they were made to do. I've found prevention with adequate space and adequate numbers of hens to be preferable to me, rather than dealing with saddles.