Sudden dramatic feather loss

[johnnyjean02]

Kickers is about 4 and a half years old. Yesterday I noticed ruffled and missing feathers and I just figured she was molting. Today she looks dramatically worse. Some of the feather shafts that are still there seem to have blood on the end. This picture doesn't really do it justice as she is practically bald on her neck in the front. She has a bald patch near one wing too. She lives with 7 other birds, one is a mama with 10 week old chicks. They are cooped up at night and free range in the yard, or are in a run during the day. Does this look like normal molting? She's eating and drinking normally and I can't see any mites, though she won't let me get a close look. It happened so fast!

 

[diamondsilkies]

It could be molting, some chickens have very drastic molts. It's hard to tell, but it looks like she has lots of pin feathers. Sometimes they can get very sensitive, which would explain the blood. Just keep an eye on her and update us if it gets much worse or any better. Is she laying eggs (if not, don't worry, I'm just curious)? Does her poop look OK?

 

[PirateGirl]

Since she is growing new feathers I'd say it's molting. If they were big bald patches with no new feather growth I'd be concerned.

 

[johnnyjean02]

So you think all the shafts are new feathers, not feathers on their way out? Only a couple days ago she looked completely normal. Could feathers have fallen out and grown back so quickly? I'll keep my fingers crossed for that.

 

[johnnyjean02]

She's not laying, but that's normal for her this time of year. She's eating And her poop looks normal. Pin feathers are on the way in? I was worried all those feathers were on the way out

 

[Morrigan]

It looks like a molt to me, with those shafts being the new feathers. Over the next few days, you should see those shafts start opening at the tips to become new feathers. Those new little shafts are very sensitive, so be careful if you handle her.

Some chickens molt gradually, but for some it is very fast and very dramatic -- literally overnight -- they go from a normal chicken to a semi-naked chicken. This chicken looked totally normal two days before this picture was taken.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It sure looks like some of my birds that are molting.
As long as she is otherwise healthy, I'd just up the protein (essential amino acids) and wait.

 

[rebrascora]

The pin feathers actually push the old feathers out, so they appear pretty quickly after the old ones drop. Some of my girls have had really heavy moults this year, when previous years they have been hardly noticeable.
I don't think you have anything to worry about either.... "normal" covers a wide range of experiences....this is just "normal" for your girl this time. Sometimes they get over it quicker when they have such a hard fast moult, so there may be benefits to it.
There are usually threads each year where people post photos of their most shocking moult victims.... in is quite amusing and can be an eye opener and reassuring when you think you have a bad one to see so many that are worse!

 

[johnnyjean02]

It looks like a molt to me, with those shafts being the new feathers. Over the next few days, you should see those shafts start opening at the tips to become new feathers. Those new little shafts are very sensitive, so be careful if you handle her.

Some chickens molt gradually, but for some it is very fast and very dramatic -- literally overnight -- they go from a normal chicken to a semi-naked chicken. This chicken looked totally normal two days before this picture was taken. View attachment 1196867

 

[johnnyjean02]

Thank you so much everyone, that males me feel so much better