Help- four of my 24 hens are practically naked on their backs. They are only ten months old too young for molting. Now the other hens won't leave them alone! As soon as they start to grow new feathers the others pluck them out!

Is my only answer to isolate them until they regrow their feathers? How long should that take? Are my other hens bored or do they need protein?

Dear lcheryl: A good question. There are several factors that need to be considered here. Is there adequate space for each bird.? Are they unnecessarily cramped? Are you feeding them a well balanced ration where they will get all the nutrients thay may need? Are the hens all the same variety and approximately the same age? Has this been going on since they were young or just started? Do you have a rooster? Are you located in an area that would have grass or green material available at this time? Do they get enough light and ventilation? All of these things can contribute to the problem. Correcting any of these may help. Watching to see if any hens are overly agressive and removing them would be a start. Giving the hens something new to eat will sometimes get them unbored, such as scratch grain given as a treat or lots of lawn clippings or lettuce leaves or other free greens from the local produce market might help. Isolating the 4 that are losing feathers would be a start. However, these probably will pick each other while isolated so these will need to be observed also. There are products that you can put on the bare spots that are supposed to act as a deterrent but I would try other things first. Some of these are tar based and are questionalble expecially if you are attempting to raise your food organically without the addition of foreign substances in their systems. This being the fact if the pecker pecks the peckee. Good luck.......

Cheryl,

If they are bored or over crowded they would be pecking and fighting feathers or no feathers wouldn't they. That should give some clue. I mix game bird feed as high as 50-50 with chicken feed for my birds. I have never had any problems with my birds. I started doing this a over a year ago with no adverse affects. Their droppings are firm and health appair to be very good, feathers full and glossy. Read the lables, the ingredients are the same with the exception of some alfalfa meal in the game bird feed, but the game bird feed is much higher in protein. 30% protein in a game bird starter crumble as compared to 19% in a chick starter crumble. Putting just a little dry cat food in their scratch can help raise the protein as well as ameno acids. If you are giving your birds ground oyster shell on the side for their calcium needs I can't amagine any adverse affects. I have not had any with my birds. As I said the ingredients in the feeds are the same, compair the lables, I don't see any harm it can do to them.

Cheryl,

I forgot to say that any changes in diet/feed should be done gradualy. Even changing brands can cause the birds to get the runs for a little while till they get used to it.

I've read the messages and responses for birds that are losing feathers and I have a few more questions. We have 26 birds (23 Barred Rocks, all hens)which we have for the eggs and a nice presence on our small farm. Several of our hens and the one rooster have problems with missing feathers (the rooster is missing feathers around the neck and all of his beautiful green tail feathers are gone). I have inspected for mites but don't see any obvious infestations. I am going to start supplementing their diet with a food higher in protein and I would like to do a preventative treatment for mites. Since we eat our eggs, what product is safe for treatments and how do you apply the product. I would greatly appreciate some information as we are heading into fall here in Northern Michigan and I would like to solve these problems prior to real cold weather.

When were your hens hatched? I have a hen who was hatched in May of 97 who has just gone into her second moult up here in the Upper Peninsula. Her sisters hatched at the same time are not doing the same thing. I find that late-hatched birds seem to be more inclined to variations from the norm in terms of laying and moult cycles. Is your henhouse snug enough to keep them warm as our cold weather intensifies? Are you supplementing their light with a timer that comes on early in the morning?

I urge everyone to post messages in response to old messages by starting a new string. I think more people will see a new one.

Some of our hens are missing feathers on their backs above their tails. We were told it was caused by the rooster. And it does seem that now only those which are still laying are missing them. Don't know what to do other than put him in the stewpot!

Help! The coop is clean and well ventilated, the rooster looks great, they eat laying pellets, cracked corn, oyster shells, and all the green stuff I can get them, they lay eggs everyday, and appear healthy and active and not too aggressive. BUT THE HENS DON'T HAVE ANY FEATHERS ON THEIR BACKS AND ARE NOW STARTING TO LOOSE THE FEATHERS ON THEIR HEADS!!!!! WHAT AM I DOING WRONG? SHOULD THEY GET VITAMINS OR SOMETHING?

I forgot to say that they hens are 18 months old and this has been going on for about 6 months. I thought they were molting but it hasn't stopped. They also have lots of space.

Just put the rooster in a sep pen for a while. The old poultry guys used to have special cockeral pens...
If you don't have one you could try building a simple small pen and run (nothing fancy) or a small triangular ark design might be easier. The hens just need a rest from him for a while but if he's a good fella and not mean then just rest him.

From Betty UK
We have 6 Black Rock in a large area, plenty of light.
being fed on layer pellets. Each one is bald on the underside, some have bare bottoms with red patches.
two are loosing feathers from their backs near tail.
We have treated for mite. We clean coop and spray on a regular basis but still no sign of it clearing up can anyone help please? The birds are about 1 year old.
They are still laying well.

You may be slipping into moult if there is no other cause of losing feathers. Length of day affects this, as do age and other factors. It's a little early for the moult, but considering that it's the middle of summer in the northern hemisphere, it's entirely possible.

Thank you for your reply. I will continue to keep and eye on them for mites etc and see how it goes.
Thank again for replying. With the weather we have
perhaps it is a moult.