What is eating my chickens' feathers

[ChickenMamaLissa]

I have five chickens, all about two years old; three ISAs, one cochin, and a Columbian wyandotte. About a month ago, I noticed one of my ISAs had some scraggly-looking feathers along her saddle. It got progressively worse and the feathers on top of her head also started disappearing (see images 2 and 3). A couple of the others started having similar stick-like feathers around their tails (see photos 2, 3, 4). After reading up on similar conditions on this site, I decided to try deworming them with Safeguard. I have looked over their feathers, under their wings, around their vents, and their necks and I have been unable to see any signs of external parasites. I've been mixing diatomaceous earth into their bedding since deworming them, just to be sure. They aren't scratching at themselves, shaking heads, or anything else that might indicate external parasites. Today I was out giving them some love and noticed the wyandotte has some weird cut-out effect on her feathers. Again, take a look at the pictures. It looks like someone cut shapes out of her feathers with some kind of stamp. Her vent is clean and pink, I didn't feel any scabs or bites, I didn't see anything scurrying away when I moved the feathers under her wings, around her neck, and around her vent. What is happening to these girls? Do I try another dewormer? Ivermectin?
Please no "all natural" solutions. They already get garlic powder mixed with their food, and apple cider vinegar in their water. While these are reasonable preventative measures, they are not treatments for serious illnesses.
Additionally, egg laying in ALL birds has dropped off. Last year we were getting 4 eggs/day but since winter, we've had 1-2 per day maximum.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
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[pennyJo1960]

They are picking on each other how many birds do you have please.

 

[ChickNanny13]

How many birds and dimension of their enclosure?
DE is a good preventative but a permethrin dust would work better for mites/lice. There's a Garden & Poultry Dust and others with permethrin ingredient, that's why I dust my girls with monthly, DE is also sprinkled in their CH enclosure and outside perimeter of their CH.

What are you feeding?

 

[Tonyroo]

Your chickens are feather picking each other. Feed them higher protein feed or give them a can of fish weekly.

 

[ChickenMamaLissa]

I’ve seen chickens pick at each other before but they’ve always pulled out the whole feather or left a broken shaft. Are they doing this to themselves?

I’m currently feeding them standard layer feed with oyster shell on the side, kitchen scraps (mostly vegetables and fruit but also some bread crusts or cereal if my kids don’t finish), and occasionally, meal worms.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Layer has ONLY 16% protein, kitchen scrapes or treats off set the nutritional value in their feed. Layer has less protein a bit higher in calcium ... The extra calcium is not recommended for chicks/roos (kidneys/liver) therefore the "stage" feeding feeds.

I switched to Flock Raiser 20% w/Oyster Shells in a separate dish available, years ago after reading an article about what it took for a hen to lay an egg. Also it's been said higher protein helps with feather regrowth when molting. Some stick to Starter/Grower some switch to a Multi Flock, some feed more protein (scrambled eggs, tuna, tofu, etc)

I had a pullet literally plucking feathers from the others, saw with my own eyes. That's when I posted and learned about how all the "healthy" treats I was giving vs the nutrition in the feed I was feeding. Stopped treating for a few weeks & feather picking stopped.

 

[FunClucks]

Address the underlying issue - low protein? Not enough space in coop and run? (recommend minimum 15 sq feet per chicken combined, with 4 sq feet of that in the coop, and 1 ft of roost space per chicken). Recommend 20% protein food - all flock/flockraiser with oyster shell and grit on the side. Or you could feed tuna fish a few times a week and see if that helps.

Right now, while you are figuring that out, in order to stop the feather picking behavior, put pinless peepers on them for a while (month or so) and hopefully once you take them off the chickens will have forgotten about picking each other. This can be a very hard habit to break. Pinless peepers are a re-training tool, not a permanent solution.

Good luck!

Depluming mites are the other option, but I don't think that's what's happening here. Your white chicken has definitely had her feathers eaten by the other hens (feather eating/picking).

 

[ChickenMamaLissa]

Thanks for the replies. For reference, 5 birds have 200 square feet of run space and 25 square feet of coop. They have plenty of roosting space too but they always end up in a big clump, even when it’s warm. The most assertive of the birds (3 of the 5) all have pinless peepers but I hate putting them on and loathe taking them off so I’ve been reluctant to do the last two.
I’ll try the flockraiser, but for the massive bag of food I have now, is there a good source of protein I can mix in? Sunflower seeds was mentioned in another post. I know I need to be careful with high fat sources like mealworms. Any suggestions? I’d like to use the fish as a last resort if possible. We don’t keep stuff like that in our pantry so it would be a little inconvenient. Scrambled eggs?

 

[ChickNanny13]

Scrambled eggs would be my choice

 

[Tonyroo]

Just have layer and high protein feed in separate containers. They know what they need when it's available to them.