What's going on with my poor hen?

Sakai

Songster
10 Years
Apr 8, 2009
137
242
206
So long story short...back in july a almost 3 year-old RIR hen started losing feathers. Hen pecked, over breeding, and molting were the suspects. She never grew them back while the other molters are. She has been separated and fed high protein foods.

I made her a saddle to help keep her warm and to keep her safe from feather pickers. Well tonight we took her off the roost to put the saddle on and since this is the first time handling her in a while ( I heard growing out pin feather can make them sensitive when handled)
I noticed that her feathers seem broken off rather than missing. She's prickly rather than naked skinned.
What the heck is this? I've never seen something like this before. They are not pin feathers...pin feathers are smooth and these look frayed or splintered.
Pardon the poor lighting. It's night time in my garage.
 

Attachments

  • 20181110_221414.jpg
    20181110_221414.jpg
    305.9 KB · Views: 21
  • 20181110_221431.jpg
    20181110_221431.jpg
    245.8 KB · Views: 16
  • 20181110_221523.jpg
    20181110_221523.jpg
    306.1 KB · Views: 18
So long story short...back in july a almost 3 year-old RIR hen started losing feathers. Hen pecked, over breeding, and molting were the suspects. She never grew them back while the other molters are. She has been separated and fed high protein foods.

I made her a saddle to help keep her warm and to keep her safe from feather pickers. Well tonight we took her off the roost to put the saddle on and since this is the first time handling her in a while ( I heard growing out pin feather can make them sensitive when handled)
I noticed that her feathers seem broken off rather than missing. She's prickly rather than naked skinned.
What the heck is this? I've never seen something like this before. They are not pin feathers...pin feathers are smooth and these look frayed or splintered.
Pardon the poor lighting. It's night time in my garage.
Do you have a whole photo of her?
Is she currently molting? Not all hens molt at the same time.
Is she eating/drinking o.k.?
Overmating and feather picking does not always pull the shaft out of the skin, she has intact feather shafts, those won't be replaced until she actually molts.

A saddle can offer some protection, I have used them in the past, even with a saddle on, the girls will re-grow feathers under the saddle when they molt, but you will still get some that are rubbed off and broken over the course of a year due to mating.

How many hens to rooster do you have?
 
8 hens to one rooster. He's a Cornish bantam and a very heavy boy. we de spurred him last night as well. I hope that will help. At the moment the naked one is separated with one other hen who is also looking rough, but her pin feather are coming in wonderfully.
She's eating and drinking wonderfully and I get an egg from her every other day.
 
Here is a picture of her last week.
 

Attachments

  • 20181030_065659.jpg
    20181030_065659.jpg
    380.2 KB · Views: 13

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom