Why does she not grow feathers back?

[Causin Chaos]

Ive got this hen that doesnt have feathers on her back and part of her wings. Its been like this for awhile since last summer. I do no not have any roos. No lice or mites. I have one other hen that is bare on her wings. Just a spot. This hen is prolly 2 years old. Acts normal. They eat table scaps with corn and scratch. Have access to oyster shell and sand. They arent crowded and they have lots of room to roam. Ive tried puttin blue kote on her but still no feathers. I havent seen any feather eating. I do have one hen that decided she would be a roo but i have 15 hens besided her/him lol. So does anyone have any ides how i can help her grow feathers back?

 

[franklinchickens]

I would be interested in this as well. I have a hen that lost feathers on her neck under her chin. We had to fence the girls in while we did a backyard project and she kept sticking her head through the fencing to get grass and clover (not that she didn't have stuff to eat in the pen but you know....the grass is always greener). She just wore away the feathers and they haven't grown back - it's been over a month and you'd think they'd be back but they aren't. The rest of her feathers are just fine.

 

[Minniechickmama]

have you thought about putting her on regular laying formula? If there is not roo and she has been like this for so long, I would suspect she needs something else in her diet. Otherwise, maybe she just hard moulted and didn't get them back before winter hit her. I had a roo like that this winter, but then when he started getting some feathers back, my dog killed him.

 

[Causin Chaos]

Heres a pic she prolly looks worse now than when this was took

 

[tigerrrrrrrlilly]

If your sure there is no mites/lice, roos and they have enough room - table scraps, corn and scratch are probably your problem. These should be treats not their total diet. I would be willing to bet your birds are not getting enough protein. Switching to a crumble with at least 16% protein will likely solve your problem and you will probably see feathers returning by 6 weeks or so. You can also feed them meal worms, scrambled/boiled eggs, sprouts... things like that to supplement more protein into their diet.

 

[Causin Chaos]

Crumbles is that like layer?

 

[Causin Chaos]

Im sure theres no mites or lice. But even if there was by now all my hens would have them. Everyone else is fine. Im sure no roos. Except for the hen that thinks she is. I had three roos a few years back and my girls looked bad so I got rid of them. Everybody got better but her...

 

[Minniechickmama]

You can use a lay crumble, pellet or mash, but for starters I would go with crumbles. This is a balance formula that also contains amino acids and minerals that they need when they are at laying age. Mine even state not to feed addition calcium since it has the needed calcium in it for a normally functioning hen to produce a good shell.

I fed cracked corn over the winter for the birds to have the extra body heat, and one hen actually got sick from having too much corn. I didn't think I had been feeding them that much, but she obviously couldn't stay balanced with what I fed. If a chicken is free ranging and eating all that nature has for it to keep healthy, that is wonderful, but not too many places have all that a chicken needs to cover all of its nutritional needs. So, we have layer formula.

You could feed her some scrambled egg from time to time as what she needs to grow feathers is additional protein. Maybe even some cooked beans could be good, or soy. Chicken tofu

Good luck.

 

[Minniechickmama]

I also wanted to mention that she may not get new feathers until her moult this fall. I have several girls who look this way or worse, and I am just waiting for moulting season for them to look good again.... I hope.

 

[Causin Chaos]

So feeding them crumbles wont make them keep laying. I dont want to wear them out. I want them to lay when they want to.