Whats wrong with my chicken feathers

[RobVc]

Two out of five of my chickens have started to lose feathers around there back's. What do you think is causing this issue? I adopted an extra chicken a couple of months ago and after a few days they all where getting on so I don't think its due to fighting/pecking. Is this lice?

 

[DobieLover]

How many chickens do you have in how much space (size of your coop and run in feet x feet)? Do you have a rooster? What and how are you feeding them?

 

[RobVc]

I have 5 chickens, 0 roosters (originally had 4 and inherited 1 a couple of months ago). My coop is 6x4 feet and run is 20 x 20 feet.
I feed them every morning, a mixture of layer pellets, corn, berries and other fruit/veg. They get fresh water every morning and the coop gets cleaned regularly.

 

[RobVc]

+correction, run is 15x15 feet

 

[micstrachan]

It sounds like they have everything they need, but it does look like feather picking to me. Can you provide some enrichment? Like things to jump up onto and a hanging head of cabbage? Is your run covered and dry? My flock absolutely LOVES to scratch through rice hulls! I recently dumped two whole 50-pound bags into their run to keep them entertained when we went out of town for a couple days. You may also want to increase their protein a bit by backing down the non-feed treats. Good luck!

 

[getaclue]

About how old are these hens? Cut back on treats, and give them some canned cat food for a few days. In the meantime, to check for lice/mites look under the feathers, at the shaft, where it goes into the skin, and check the roosts at night. I'm not saying this because I think it's mites/lice. I suspect it may be age/food related.

 

[rebrascora]

Are they all like this or are there one or two birds that are not showing much/any feather damage?
Spending a little time observing them should shed some light on what is happening, particularly at roosting time when pecking order most often comes into play or over preening due to irritation from parasites can become apparent..
Are you seeing feathers in the coop (under the roosting bars perhaps) or in the run or is there no trace of them which would suggest they are being eaten?

 

[getaclue]

rebra, I never thought about possible mice/rats in the coop at night eating on the feathers, but that is a huge possibility.

 

[RobVc]

Great, thanks for all the help! They are loving the hanging head of cabbage. I will cut back on the treats and keep an eye on them to see what happening. Only two chickens are showing signs of this, the one in the picture is the worst and another one has signs feather loss but minimal. The hens are around 1 year old.