Featherless rear

[Anonymous]

Hi. I am a new comer to keeping chickens. I purchased three point of lay approx 7 weeks ago. All three are laying. However my speckled hen has lost all its downy feathers from around its rear end and is bald in that area. I cannot see any fleas or nasties and everything seems clean. any ideas / remedies would be appreciated. Thanks in anticipation.

 

[Anonymous]

If it isn't sore from being plucked out,either by herself or one of your other hens it is probably from moulting.
If it is from moulting,gradually the new feathers will grow through.Some ppl do provide a few extra's like poultry spice to their hens feed,garlic and ACV to their hens water to make sure they are getting all the nutrients that they need during moulting.
if the eggs start to be thin shelled as well,liquid calcium can be added to the water to help this.

 

[Tim]

Are there feathers around the run on the floor? If so, it's most probably started to moult. Some hens can look almost oven ready and it can be quite shocking to see. If you examine her, she should have little 'stubs' of fethers re-growing in between and I doubt she's laying since feathers are 80% protein so the body shuts off egg production.

 

[Anonymous]

Many thanks for the info. All three hens are still definately laying. Will have a closer look at her rear in daylight. The speckled hen in question has a habit of pecking the tail feathers of the other two hens a lot of the time but doesn,t seem to be doing much harm to them! but we have never seen her pulling at her own feathers ever. My white one is now starting to loose down at rear so presume it must be moulting time.Will report any further findings when I,ve had a good look at the weekend. Thanks.

 

[Tim]

Have just posted an article on poultrykeeper.com on moulting chickens - one thing to keep in mind is if they need more protein during the moult, they can peck and eat others feathers. It might be worth watching to she does when she is pecking at the feathers.

Tim

 

[Anonymous]

It might be worth watching to she does when she is pecking at the feathers.

Tim

That is one thing I will have a job to spot with mine....my dogs love eating the feathers that come off my chooks......they also love hoof trimmings,now cherry toms as well as bird food......dogs :? -who'd have them :lol: .

If yours are eating their feathers' Mick,you can increase their protein intake.Looking forward to what you observe as it teaches a lot of us newbies how to deal with minor problems.

 

[Anonymous]

Have had a good look around this weekend and it seems that new feathers are starting to grow as suggested so its definately moulting, however its still laying its daily egg which is great!
I have watched my speckled pecking at the other two's tail feathers for a while but have'nt actually seen it pull out any although at some time it has done! so don't know the answers to that at the moment. I will keep looking.

 

[Tim]

OK - so if you see 'stubs' of feathers regrowing and feathers on the floor, your chooks are moulting.

It's that time of year and most chooks will moult between August and October... usually they stop laying eggs during their moult since they need loads of protein to produce new feathers - so my guess is they are short of protein and are eating feathers to get protein.

Many breeders feed dried cat food (wet it and mix it up) to give them animal protein they need during a moult. It must be cat food and not dog food since dog food protein comes from cereal crops.

Tim