Why has this chicken lost so many feathers?

[Lobodugald]

Strange situation I have here that I cannot find any help with on Google because all they can keep talking about is mites and my chickens have NO MITES because I look after them!!!!

This frizzled Pekin bantam hen always had the perfect amount of feathers for the first year of her life - as seen in my first picture.

When she turned a year old she lost the feathers on her head, legs and first part of her neck and has been this way until her current age of two years - as seen in my second picture.

I normally use Revolution on them once per month for preventing mites and lice but for the last year I have alternated between Advantage, Frontline, Advantix and Deltamethrin just to be sure that it is not maybe a specific kind of mite causing this BUT she is soooo healthy and happy and there are no skin issues, she has just lost feathers and never grown them back.

Chicken experts here are constantly telling me that she is a Pekin cross Kaalneck and that is why she is missing feathers BUT if she is a crossbreed then why did she have all the correct feathers for the first year of her life? Are Kaalnecks not born with missing feathers? Yes they are and she was not! They don't just lose them after a year of age! Also, Kaalnecks DO have feathers on the top of their heads and now she does NOT so how can she be crossed with a Kaalneck?

So confusing but does anyone have any knowledge as to how I can get her back to normal again? I use the bird bath salts every week in her bath water and I use the creams prescribed by my Veterinarian, one year now and no sign of feathers!

 

[floppysquirrel04]

Does she get picked on? She looks healthy to me, I’m not sure why she doesn’t have them there. Others will chime in.

 

[janiedoe]

She looks like a beauty to me.
Maybe you are over-doing the grooming?
I'm a firm believer in "beauty begins within". But I do know that age changes hormone production in all of us as well as our hens. I think nutrition is the best thing to address for healthy looking hens. Have you tried upping her protein?
If her diet is already good, maybe just leave off the bathing for a couple of months and see how she does.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

This is my take, I see that your cutie is a frizzle, the thing with frizzle genetics is when you have a frizzled rooster mating with a frizzle hen you can end up with what is called a Frazzle. A bird with two frizzle genes (Frazzle) can develop many issues including but not limited to brittle and poor feathering. Do you know if she came from a flock with that possibility?

 

[Lobodugald]

Does she get picked on? She looks healthy to me, I’m not sure why she doesn’t have them there. Others will chime in.

Hi there. No, my chickens have a lot of toys and a huge yard and get plenty of exercise. I spend most of my time with them as I only work two mornings per week. None of my birds fight or peck. In fact, this one is the one that sometimes chases the others away from the food but nobody dares chase or threaten her, ha ha.

 

[Lobodugald]

She looks like a beauty to me.
Maybe you are over-doing the grooming?
I'm a firm believer in "beauty begins within". But I do know that age changes hormone production in all of us as well as our hens. I think nutrition is the best thing to address for healthy looking hens. Have you tried upping her protein?
If her diet is already good, maybe just leave off the bathing for a couple of months and see how she does.

Interesting, I like this suggestion and I will try it thank you. The Vet supply store where I buy my animal products from told me that my parrot must be bathed daily and my chickens must be bathed weekly. That is the only reason why I do it so often, before I used to only bath the chickens just before a show.
For protein they get mealworms and superworms each day and then they catch their own insects in the yard. I also cook fish for them once a week. (I'm sure it is healthier fed raw but I don't know if that is safe.)
Other than that they get layer pellets and a huge range of different seeds mixed in with their mielies. Hope this is okay. (plenty sunflower seeds also)
I give wheat germ oil once per day and bird vitamins in the water every second day. Also dewormer every three months.
I will stop bathing her and see how it goes. Thank you so much....

 

[Lobodugald]

This is my take, I see that your cutie is a frizzle, the thing with frizzle genetics is when you have a frizzled rooster mating with a frizzle hen you can end up with what is called a Frazzle. A bird with two frizzle genes (Frazzle) can develop many issues including but not limited to brittle and poor feathering. Do you know if she came from a flock with that possibility?

I think you just hit the nail on the head here!!!!

When I went to buy her (and her Brother) I noticed that EVERY SINGLE chick in the "litter" was frizzled. I thought that from each batch it should be about 50% frizzled birds and about 50% non-frizzled birds BUT here all I could see was frizzled babies so I was wondering if maybe the breeder was an idiot who mated a frizzle to a frizzle, I guess that was the case! (By the way, her brother died that night so they gave me another cockerel and he died a week later)

She also has constant issues with her immune system and gets eggbound a lot as her eggs are too big for her little body.

All these problems and the deaths could possibly be explained by her having a double copy of the frizzle gene. So she is actually a frazzle as you say, poor thing, I don't know how people can do this!!!! AND she ALSO has wry tail! Must have been an irresponsible breeder who only cared about the money!

Thank you so much for this very cool suggestion, you are a star and now i'm sure my bird is a frazzle, ha ha ha, poor thing!!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I think you just hit the nail on the head here!!!!

When I went to buy her (and her Brother) I noticed that EVERY SINGLE chick in the "litter" was frizzled. I thought that from each batch it should be about 50% frizzled birds and about 50% non-frizzled birds BUT here all I could see was frizzled babies so I was wondering if maybe the breeder was an idiot who mated a frizzle to a frizzle, I guess that was the case! (By the way, her brother died that night so they gave me another cockerel and he died a week later)

She also has constant issues with her immune system and gets eggbound a lot as her eggs are too big for her little body.

All these problems and the deaths could possibly be explained by her having a double copy of the frizzle gene. So she is actually a frazzle as you say, poor thing, I don't know how people can do this!!!! AND she ALSO has wry tail! Must have been an irresponsible breeder who only cared about the money!

Thank you so much for this very cool suggestion, you are a star and now i'm sure my bird is a frazzle, ha ha ha, poor thing!!

Some people just aren't familiar with good breeding practices for frizzles and all they're thinking is that they want to hatch more frizzles and not that there will be ramifications for that.
With you saying you lost two of them I'd say that it's even more likely she's a frazzle because heart issues are another factor when dealing with two frizzle genes.
It sounds like she's in good hands with you and will get all the love she needs for a happy life, albeit a bald one, lol.

 

[floppysquirrel04]

Parrots don’t need to be bathed daily. They enjoy sitting on a perch in the shower 1-3x a week, but you should never use products on them unless necessary. Chickens dust bathe, and unless you’re showing them never need a water bath.

 

[Lobodugald]

Some people just aren't familiar with good breeding practices for frizzles and all they're thinking is that they want to hatch more frizzles and not that there will be ramifications for that.
With you saying you lost two of them I'd say that it's even more likely she's a frazzle because heart issues are another factor when dealing with two frizzle genes.
It sounds like she's in good hands with you and will get all the love she needs for a happy life, albeit a bald one, lol.

Ha ha you are funny. Yes shame I do notice that she suffers from the heat and also from the cold so she sleeps inside and gets blow-dried everytime she gets wet from the rain. Also, no matter what I do she cannot gain weight. All my other chickens are normal to fat and she is anorexic the poor thing! Oh well she seems happy and is an awesome pet. I just wish people would study a little before breeding!! :-(