Will feathers lost in a dog attack grow back before a molt?

[OldManDan]

I think regrowth of the feathers depends on the severity of the feather loss. Shafts pulled or just broken exc. Not sure about the fluff.
You said she has not molted this year. How old is she? Could this be the start of a late molt?

She is 1 year and 5 months old. Our other three chickens (all the same age) just had their first molt and have regrown their feathers. Peggy, the attacked chicken, hasn't molted at all yet. I thought maybe she wouldn't molt this year either since she hasn't started yet and the others have.

The attack happened a week ago, she recovered quickly and her rear looks normal now, well except being bare. Even though it doesn't get really cold around here (Virginia, on the coast) I was hoping the cold wouldn't affect her too much with no feathers back there.

Thanks everyone for your info, very interesting!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Are these your first chickens, Dan?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

We had a hen get attacked by a dog last week, and her whole rear is now bald. I'm not sure if the dog pulled out the feathers or it was a "fright molt".

My question is, will her butt feathers start to grow in now, or will they have to wait until she molts?

If the feathers were pulled outright and the feather shafts are not intact in the skin, then yes...she *should* regrow those missing feathers.

There are some instances where the skin may be damaged or she may have some bare spots, you never know. I had a rooster that had his tail feathers ripped out, he never fully regrew his beautiful tail feathers even after several years of going through a molt.

Bottom line. Time will tell, you can't always predict how things will turn out.

 

[OldManDan]

Are these your first chickens, Dan?

Yes, is it that obvious? LOL

My friend got 4 several day old chicks last June, I remember telling her, "why do you want chickens?" and I thought it was a crazy idea.

But then, as they grew and I got to know them, and then they started doing cute chicken things, well... now I'm the crazy chicken dad!

I built them a big nice coop and run, and I can't wait to go out and see them every day.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

They certainly do grow on you, don't they!

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Thanks for this info. Sounds like it would be really hard on them, though.

It is, that's why I don't highly recommend doing it (though I often bring it up). When I've done it with my own birds, it's usually one chicken and not the whole flock, and that one chicken usually has a reason behind me doing it. (Last year I did one with my girl Midnight, and due to the plucking that I was trying to get control over, she had been plucked so terribly that I figured if she was left in the flock, she wouldn't be able to properly grow her feathers back.)