Mrs Potts Posted November 14, 2010 Share Posted November 14, 2010 Hi, everyone. We haven't gone through moulting before, so just wondering ... do the feathers fall straight out or do they discolour first, or what? Mine have lost a few feathers over the last month but I can count them on one hand. However, when Hetty was ill back in September, after she recovered some feathers on her back, near her tail, discoloured. They haven't fallen out, and they haven't increased. There aren't very many of them that are discoloured, probably just about an inch wide, on her back. They are ex batts and it just looks as if someone has licked their finger and wiped it along the feather - just a bit darker, like a bit of a slick. I did examine her at the time and could not see anything so did not think it was mites (and I louse their wood chip floor in any case). In the last two weeks, Flo and Leia have developed the same thing. About the same number of feathers, in exactly the same spot. The hens do not seem to be preening themselves extra in that spot and don't seem at all distressed. They seem happy; still laying two to three eggs a day. I worm them once a month and put lice powder down. Blanchette remains untouched by the feather thing. Mind you, her feathers have only just started to colour up - they were pretty white until October, which I think was either stress or malnutrition. She does a lot of what I think is social pecking - the front and back of the necks of the others, so I don't think that is responsible for it. The other hens don't move out of the way of her pecking and it never seems aggressive, so this is why I think it is social. What am I missing? Many thanks in advance, you all helped enormously with the ribena in the antibiotic solution! Mrs P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted November 14, 2010 Share Posted November 14, 2010 The feathers generally fall out whole, as far as I know . My girls often have a few newer looking feathers - a slightly different shade - even though I wasn't aware of any moulting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted November 14, 2010 Share Posted November 14, 2010 It sounds like the darker ones are new The hen's feathers will have faded over the summer and new ones stand out as looking very fresh and clean The new darker feathers will start becoming more and more until the hen has a new set Sometmes the feathers come out in handfuls other times the moult is more subtle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taz1967 Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 This sounds exactly like our chickens. Mabel has had it in the past and we thought it was mites, se we tried our best at getting mite powder onto the front of her neck. It worked and the feathers went back to normal, but it has happened on a couple more occasions. Anyway, the wife was checking mabel at the weekend and found what she said were mites near her vent. so with that we mite powdered around that and done the other 3 chickens to as a precaution. But today when i get in from work and go anc heck on them all 4 of the girls are showing signed of wet feeathers on the front of their necks, but mabels is by far the worse. Im at a loss as what to do, or what to treat them for?? Any ideas?? I will try to post some photos of them tomorrow as they all gone to bed now. Cheers Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
