Poorly bird?? help!!

[jess33]

Hi One of our chickens has lost most of her feathers on her underside, to put it blunt she looks the same in that area as an 'oven ready' chicken!
Looked on a couple of forums and thought it was probably just moulting but now not so sure, she has also lost the feathers to the tops of her legs aswell and they look a bit bluey in colour which looks a bit unsightly, she is eating normally and still laying eggs and is acting the same as she normally does, have checked the coop for mites etc but nothing there, is this normal or is there something wrong with her??

[LisaB]

Hello

If her legs are bluey grey I would imagine its new feathers coming through about to break through the skin - so I would guess a moult.
Just make sure none of the other hens are plucking her and keep an eye out for redness and bleeding =)

[jess33]

Thank you for reply, doesnt seem to be any redness or bleeding but will keep an eye on it, noticed one of the other chickens has pecked her a couple of times, should we do something about it, if so what?? how long does it normally take for new feathers to come through on her legs and underside?

[Annie]

I f she is being pecked where there are no feathers then just disguise it with purple spray that should put the other bird off. Once the quills have broken through you should notice the feathers starting reasonably soon.
Try adding a bit more protein to her food , oily fish is easy to mix in especially if fed in a warm wet mash of pellets. Poultry spice will pep her up too .

[LisaB]

The occasional peck is fine - it's just one hen putting another in her place.
But you can get chickens that are a bit obsessive and will just pluck another's feathers, sometimes it's because they're lacking in protein and will eat the feathers, or they will just do it for not really any reason (I hear light sussex are meant to be bad for this).
If it's obsessive then the bully may need separating for a few days to put her in her place, if not then just leave her be
The feathers should come through in a matter of days, you can buy live maggots which are a great protein boost for helping them regrow their feathers

[Steve the Gas]

Welcome

Couldn't have put it better myself, but it would prolly be shorter

[Kazgaz]

Hello,

two and a bit weeks ago I had a terrible fright when of my newly aquired chickens came walking down the ramp minus most of her feathers . I spent that saturday morning panicking until I found this forum and discovered she hadn't been beaten up in the night - but was moulting - spectacularly! She was bald on her back, belly, head, backside and lost her tail feathers! Her skin went almost purple and then she became covered in white spikes as her feathers started coming through. She now looks like she's covered in lots of small make up brushes, the feathers are getting bigger and more numerous by the day. She still looks decidedly moth eaten, but I'm amazed that they're coming through so quickly! It won't be long at this rate until she's back to her beautiful fluffy self.

She decided to moult when the weather was sub zero and I thought she'd freeze to death, but it seems chickens are more robust than you think, and the other girls cuddle up to her at night.

I'm waiting to see what the next one has in store!!