Silkies look ragged, feed issue?

[kwoot85]

My flock of silkies are so ragged looking, they went through their molt last fall but never grew back fully. Now coming out of winter they still look so dull and thin plumage. It seems all my adults get this way after they begin to mature. The chicks always grow out beautifully but then decline by laying age and ultimately never regrow their beautiful full plumage. This is year 3 for my flock, some girls are almost two and look horrid and have never regrown their beards and have short rough feathers. Some look like they stay in a molting stage all year round. Others barely regrow their crests back after molting. Their behavior is normal though, they don’t seem stressed and are happy acting otherwise.

I have had them on Kalmbach henhouse reserve (17% protein) with grubbly worms and sunflower as occasional treats. They get poultry cell in their water for a week then reg water for a week.

Do they need a much higher protein feed?

I am looking at Dr. Pol 28% poultry pearls as an option.

I recently switched to Kalmbach full plume feed but it’s only been a few weeks.

Any help for restoring my flocks beautiful plumage would be appreciated!

 

[Bubblewrap]

I believe that once a bird has molted and its new feathers have grown in that you cannot very much affect the quality of the feathering with nutrition. Molting supplements as far as I know only work when a bird is growing its new feathers. Have you investigated the possibility of mites?

 

[kwoot85]

I believe that once a bird has molted and its new feathers have grown in that you cannot very much affect the quality of the feathering with nutrition. Molting supplements as far as I know only work when a bird is growing its new feathers. Have you investigated the possibility of mites?

I did fail to mention that, no mites for over a year thankfully! I have been using elector psp in spring and fall. They seem to go through a molt but never come back to where they where before they began to lay.

 

[kwoot85]

I believe that once a bird has molted and its new feathers have grown in that you cannot very much affect the quality of the feathering with nutrition. Molting supplements as far as I know only work when a bird is growing its new feathers. Have you investigated the possibility of mites?

I just added some before pics from last summer and after pics of right now. Quite a few look ragged like those two do.

 

[Bubblewrap]

well I'm not much more experienced than you with poultry but I did look at a picture of what you are feeding them and it is a complete feed but it also has whole grains mixed in. If some of your birds are just picking out the grains and not eating the biscuits they might not be getting a complete protein. That scenario would cause those birds to be eating an unbalanced diet and could lead to ragged feathers. With non homogenized foods you need to make sure they eat all they are given, or they may pick their favorite seeds. The classic example of this is the parrot that picks out all the sunflower seeds from its food dish and eats nothing else. Trying the alternative food for a bit and seeing if the problem clears seems like a reasonable way to test.

 

[kwoot85]

well I'm not much more experienced than you with poultry but I did look at a picture of what you are feeding them and it is a complete feed but it also has whole grains mixed in. If some of your birds are just picking out the grains and not eating the biscuits they might not be getting a complete protein. That scenario would cause those birds to be eating an unbalanced diet and could lead to ragged feathers. With non homogenized foods you need to make sure they eat all they are given, or they may pick their favorite seeds. The classic example of this is the parrot that picks out all the sunflower seeds from its food dish and eats nothing else. Trying the alternative food for a bit and seeing if the problem clears seems like a reasonable way to test.

Thank you, that is something I hadn’t noticed but worth a try! Maybe some of the others are eating the stuff the ragged ones pick out and that could be a reason I have t noticed lol. I could have some sneaky chickens.