Weird Feather Loss

[CrazyChickenMom11]

Hi everyone! I have some weird feather loss happening in my < 1 yr old hens and I can't figure out what it could be. They started loosing feathers in early Dec however, I found that one of them was plucking the feathers out of the others and eating them. After about a month (and many chicken jail time outs), I finally stopped this feather picking. I assumed their feathers would grow back however, they are not and are in fact loosing more of them (as shown in the pictures.) I was thinking they were protein deficient and gave them more protein rich foods, but that hasn't helped. One strange thing is that I have one hen who is almost 6 years old and is not having this issue at all. I don't think it's from mites since the older hen is not affected and the younger ones are all laying great. Any suggestions on what this could be or how to get them to start growing their feathers back?

 

[Tookie]

Do you have a rooster?

 

[sourland]

Most likely the hen that is in perfect feather is feather pecking/plucking the others.

 

[CrazyChickenMom11]

Do you have a rooster?

No, I do not.

 

[CrazyChickenMom11]

Most likely the hen that is in perfect feather is feather pecking/plucking the others.

I have been outside for most of the day just watching them and I didn't see any feather plucking then. My older hen likes to stay away from the babies for the most part.

 

[sourland]

Okay.