What could attack a hen remove much of its feathers and not kill it?

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

Yeah there are feathers all over the run. Stress molting never crossed my mind. That would explain why she seems otherwise healthy. Should I keep her in for a little to let some of the feathers come in? It is cold and she seems so naked!

 

[tlcorley]

Mrs.Puff :

They molt precisely when the weather turns cold. Are there feathers all over the run?

That is absolutely not true about owls. I am a former Dept. of Natural Resources employee, and I can guarantee that is ridiculous. The only reason an owl might "pluck" feathers is because it attacked a chicken and found it couldn't quite grab it, so lots of feathers fell out.

Maybe it was a freak one time thing, but the farmer shot the owl because he found it in the coop. Not just a story, it is fact. they may not always do this, but one did this one time.​

 

[Mrs.Puff]

Don't worry too much about the nudity! She would actually be more stressed out if you keep her away from the flock then try to reintroduce her. The other hens won't remember her and will treat her like a stranger. Give her a little protein boost like everybody said, and those feathers will grow back in before you know it. If you have roosters though, you might watch out for rooster damage to her back.

 

[Mrs.Puff]

It is not unusual to find an owl inside a coop! Actually, someone else on her posted a picture of one! It was crazy! The owl got in and couldn't get out, and in the ruckus, some feathers got pulled out.

 

[mypicklebird]

My guess is that the poster's chicken either is molting, or got chased and harassed by an inexperienced predator (or a dog). Or both! Something that grabbed feathers, but did not damage the skin. For the owl story, I agree owls don' t intentionally pluck chickens- their prey items are usually small (rats, mice, gophers, ect), and they are dawn/dusk/night time predators- not usually overlapping with the average chicken. If a farmer found an owl stuck in a coop- and an alive and defeathered chicken- there was probably alot of flapping and flailing, scared owl and scared chicken- but probably not much intentional plucking. They don' t have the feet for that.

Quote:
Maybe it was a freak one time thing, but the farmer shot the owl because he found it in the coop. Not just a story, it is fact. they may not always do this, but one did this one time.

 

[mypicklebird]

Another thought on owls in the coop- an owl stuck in a coop was probably going after mice or rats. Or in my case gophers. I have gophers raid my chicken feeders at night (grrr), and love my Horned owl and Barn owls, that help keep them in check.

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

I ended up returning her to the flock last night. She was so stressed in the house that her face was going pale. She looks dreadful, but seems content enough. I am keeping an eye on the others to see if they pck on her bare behind!

Thanks everyone for the advice!!!!!

 

[Dazlin]

Mine are all in molt now. I have a white americana that hard molts...litterally drops ALL her feathers in 2 days. I can see her skin. That in itself puts alot of demand on their little bodies. The feathers are 85% protein, and requires added protein to help them grow new ones. This bird puts herself to sleep(roosts) very early before the others when she's in hard molt like this. That tells me, her body is working hard.
I never separate them, or keep one alone, I find that to be very stressful and disrupting to them. It's never helped me in the past.
Only if the bird is contagious, or very injured will I consider doing that.
I add high protein Gamebird, and a handful of dry cat food every other day for extra protein.

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

I took about eight eggs this morning and scrambled them hard, shells and all, cooked 'em, and gave it back to them. Put back all that protein and calcium. They were some happy hens!

She looks OK. I caged the one roo because he started picking on her bare vent.