Chicken feathers fallin out

16 years ago

I have 3 chickens and for the past 2 months one of them has lose feathers to the point of being bald on a spot on her back and under her neck and breast. she is crippled so I assumed it was due to picking but I haven't seen the others bothering her. Now one of the others has a small bald spot on the front of the neck. The third has no loss of feathers at all. I have dusted them for mites and wormed them. Thanks

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Comments (4)

carmen_grower_2007
16 years ago
Is there a rooster? Do these chickens free range at all? I am asking because baldness on the back very often means the hen is very much liked and is "over-used". If there are no roosters and you are taking care of mites, etc., it sounds like a boredom problem.

We use Diatomaceous Earth to take care of mites and also put it in the feed. We also use it for our cats and dogs. Ours free-range so don't have the boredom problem. There are two hens, however (out of 35) that seem to have great sex hormones and the roosters love them to the point of taking out their back feathers. They are totally free, so it seems they can escape if they don't like it!!!
velvet_sparrow
16 years ago
What carmen said...

I'd add to check to see if they are eating the feathers they are pulling. If so, this could indicate a protein deficiency.

I'd attack this problem in several ways, all at once. Add more protein to their diet--scrambled eggs, cooked ground beef, live mealworms, etc. Fight overcrowding by making sure they have LOTS of room to free range and get away from bullies. Isolate the one hen until her feathers grow back if need be. Fight boredom by offering entertainment by food--raw corn on the cob, head of cabbage on a string, etc. These take time to eat and direct pecking AWAY from flockmates. If you notice dry skin, extreme preening or scratching, add a capsule of human vitamin E (poke a hole in one end of the capsule and squeeze it into their mouth) once a week for a while to add more oil to their diet. Don't rub ito into their skin if you can avoid it, as you don't want to soil the feathers or cause chilling.

Feather picking is a nasty habit that often develops from one of these causes and can be a very hard habit to break. I have a chicken info site here that may offer more help:

http://home.earthlink.net/~velvetsparrow/VSChick.htm

Velvet ~:>
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Are these new feathers growing in after a molt? If so, they are normal and the bird will preen them in. Don't handle the bird during this time as it's painful for them. Offer some extra protein in the form of live mealworms/crickets, cooked ground beef, scrambled eggs, etc. to give them a protein boost--growing new feathers takes lots of protein! Like calliope said, check her over for mites (tiny, dark, crawling specks, and/or grayish dust stuck to the base of feather shafts, which are the mite eggs). Place her on a sheet or two of white paper towels for about 20 mites, then look at the towels--mites are attracted to white and you'll see them crawling on the towels. Also check to make sure she (or another bird) aren't pulling her feathers out. This can be a sign of boredom/overcrowding or a protein deficiency. If the feathers are being eaten after being pulled, offer more protein in their diet. Feather picking can be a tough bad habit to break, if that is what they are doing offer foods that take time to eat (a cabbage hung from a string, raw corn on the cob) to divert pecking from her and offer them entertainment. If they are overcrowded give them more room to roam. Also, when growing new feathers they tend to be down-in-the-dumps and kinda grumpy, which is normal. Heck, I'd be grumpy, too! Velvet ~:>
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Roberta, if you check my chicken info page I've put the pros and cons of DE there...I have never used it myself so I can't give you first hand experience. :) DE isn't foolproof, much depends on being sure that ALL of your birds are ingesting it and dustbathing in it in order for it to work, plus it has to be fresh and never have gotten wet, which dulls it's effectiveness. Lots of 'ifs' with DE but lots of people swear by it. Here's as much as I know about DE, scroll down until you find the DE section: http://home.earthlink.net/~velvetsparrow/VSChickHealth.htm Belindam, did you read the secion of my site I pointed out...? As long as you have ruled out parasites, eating the feathers usually signifies a lack of protein, try offering things like scrambled eggs, cooked ground beef, live mealworms, etc. to give them a protein boost and see if it stops. Also offer the cabbage on a string and raw corn on the corn for diversion. Lots of fresh greens is also great, and if they don't have access to green grass, get them some. Grass is not only good for them, it provides grit for crops, minerals, protein (bugs) and entertainment. If your chickens AND the ones you rehomed are feather picking, it could be a fun, new game they have discovered that is now a hard habit to break, parasites or a nutritional deficiancy. What breed are they...? If I recall correctly broilers will sometimes pick each other. Are they by chance molting...? Velvet ~:>
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Aloha, A lot of the feathers can be dry plucked but that needs to be done immediately after killing them. I usually leave the bird hanging and start with the big wing and tail feathers and pull a few out each time with sort of a quick sharp pull. At this point getting the most feathers off is more important than getting them all. Then the body feathers can be pulled off in little snappy movements. If you grab too many feathers at once it is possible to tear the skin. If that happens just go to the different area and continue. Sometimes I can get all the feathers off before the carcass cools so much that the feathers don't pull off anymore otherwise a hot water dunk will finish the job. In my estimation, you get a better carcass from a dry plucked bird, but it takes a bit of practice to be able to get all the feathers off before it chills too much. Other than dry plucking for a better carcass, hot wet chickens are much smellier than dry chickens. Whether there are a lot of pinfeathers or not depends on the age of the bird and where it is in the feather/moult cycle. If there are loads of pin feathers, sometimes it is just easier to skin them and the skin can be salted on the back and pinned out to dry so you end up with "flat" chickens if you like. I do that with barred rock cockerels since their hackle feathers are nice for fishing lures. The meat does need to be chilled for a day or two to tenderize. My grannie used to put the whole cleaned carcass in salt water, but I usually put mine in a plastic bag. If the meat is a bit dry, perhaps the first several chickens could be soup? If it was dark discolorations, it could have been bruised in the slaughtering process, but I dunno about white discoloration unless it is freezer or refrigerator burn? It does get easier with practice. A hui hou, Cathy
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ntownchick
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for the information. I have isolated her. I put her in a wire cage within the big cage. There is no rooster now but there was when this started. they do not get to free range, but I am able to move their cage often to keep green grass under them as there isn't a bottom in their cage.They do eat the feathers sometimes but not always so I will add protein to their diet. I gave them corn on the cob but they weren't very interested, I'll try the cabbage.
Thanks again
Bev
velvet_sparrow
16 years ago
Not interested in corn on the cob?! Those aren't real chickens, good heavens! :0 Try scoring a few of the kernels to give them the idea that this is something yummy, they'll catch on. Mine go hog wild for corn on the cob...

Good luck with them, I've had feather pickers before so I know what a pain it is. :)

Velvet ~:>

Chicken feathers fallin out

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carmen_grower_2007

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Chicken feathers fallin out

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