What’s going on with my birds?

[Jim51]

I am a first-time chicken guy, and I have 8 hens in a secured coop. I don’t allow my hens to free-range because of the predators in the area. One of my girls, my only totally black hen, has had an open sore spot on the back of her head for some time, which I thought was due to the other birds pecking at her. I’ve seen them do it on numerous occasions.

Then, a few months ago, probably half of my flock began losing all the feathers around their butts. I attributed that to either mounting and/or related in some way the laying of eggs. Out of 8 birds, I’m only averaging 2-4 eggs a day.

But today, I noticed white on the feathers of my black hen… it looks as though someone brushed white paint onto her. Now. I’m wondering if I have sort of mite, or disease infecting my flock.

Thoughts or suggestions?

 

[21hens-incharge]

Looks like a lot of new feathers coming in to me. they have what's called a sheath around them as they grow. It makes them look quite odd indeed but is normal during molt.

How old are the birds? I ask since they don't go through a true molt until they are over a year old.

 

[Jim51]

Looks like a lot of new feathers coming in to me. they have what's called a sheath around them as they grow. It makes them look quite odd indeed but is normal during molt.

How old are the birds? I ask since they don't go through a true molt until they are over a year old.

I’m thinking that my oldest birds are only 2 or 2 1/2 years. The younger girls are 12 to 18 months old.

 

[21hens-incharge]

That initial sore spot on the black hen would be from the others as you noticed. Often those areas don't grow feathers back until molt. Some get so damaged there is a perpetual bald spot. Looks like your gal is filling in nicely but will probably always have a small naked spot there.

I have never understood the naked bums that happen months before a molt.

There are many potential causes like feather picking by the others while they roost, over grooming by the bird, a dietary deficiency, illness, pests like mites and probably 100 other things.
As long as the feed is a good balance and the bird is acting normal I try not to worry about the naked butts.

 

[BDutch]

To me it doesn’t look like a molt. More like feather pecking, a stress problem. You say mounting. So you have a rooster? Is he rough on the girls?
A cause for feather pecking is often lack of space and hiding places but could be unbalanced feed balanced too.

The number of eggs always decrease in fall and when the hens get older too. I wouldn’t worry about that.

Tell us a bit more about your flock and how they live.
How many hens?
Do you have roosters?
How much coop space?
How much run space?
Do they have acces to the run grom dawn till dusk?

What feed do they get?
Do you give kitchen scraps as wel?
Is it always available.

 

[BDutch]

Maybe this is helpful. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/do-chickens-eat-other-chickens.78033/
And there are some cracks on this forum who can help you better (I’m not an expert). You can tag people who you find thrust worthy to ask for help.

 

[Jim51]

To me it doesn’t look like a molt. More like feather pecking, a stress problem. You say mounting. So you have a rooster? Is he rough on the girls?
A cause for feather pecking is often lack of space and hiding places but could be unbalanced feed balanced too.

The number of eggs always decrease in fall and when the hens get older too. I wouldn’t worry about that.

Tell us a bit more about your flock and how they live.
How many hens?
Do you have roosters?
How much coop space?
How much run space?
Do they have acces to the run grom dawn till dusk?

What feed do they get?
Do you give kitchen scraps as wel?
Is it always available.

I initially started out with 10 birds, one of which was a rooster. As he matured with the rest of flock, he dominated all the hens, and was very rough on them to the point that he abused one of them almost to death. So, I removed him from the coop/run. You could almost see the stress just melt away from the other birds when the rooster no longer had physical access to them. I continued to to feed him outside the coop, but he eventually became so aggressive towards me that I finally eliminated him Not, however, before he had fertilized two eggs that added two more roosters to the flock. As they matured, they followed in their father’s footsteps in terms of abusing the girls, the point that they killed one of my hens and were about to do the some of the other birds, like their dad, they got banished from the the coop/run. One of them jumped the fence into my backyard and was killed by my two large dogs. The other got beheaded by a hawk. So now, after adding some healthy pullets to my flock, I now have 8 hens. The coop is 4’ wide x 8’ long x 6’ tall, with 5 nesting boxes, elevated 4 feet off the ground. The run, (not including the space underneath the elevated coop) is 16’ long c 8’ wide. They have 24 hour access to the run, but when the sun sets, they head for their roosts in the coop, and they don’t emerge again until dawn. Their feeder with chicken crumbles is outside, and is always full and available to them. Additionally, they have daily scratch (which I soak in a 5 gallon covered bucket) and they really like that. I also give them daily kitchen scraps, and every other day meal worms which they devour. They are all very active… I’ve not noticed any lack of energy among them.