Why is my Chicken Losing Feathers?

Why is my chicken losing feathers? A chicken’s feathers are what protect its skin and helps keep the chicken warm. There are two main reasons why a chicken would lose its feathers. Usually feather loss is caused by molting or the feathers being pulled out by other flock members. Feather loss can be a normal occurrence, such as molting. However, it can also indicate a behavioral issue, health problem, or diet imbalance. Figuring out if the feather loss in your homestead flock is natural or not is essential for keeping them healthy and productive. Here are seven reasons for feather loss in homestead chickens!

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#1. Molting

Molting is a normal occurrence and every healthy chicken will molt at least once a year. Laying hens and roosters who are over one year old will molt annually. This annual molt typically takes place in the fall. Here are some things to consider when deciphering if your flock is simply loosing feathers because of the fall molt:

• Is your flock composed of chickens who are over one year old?
• Is it fall and is the natural daylight hours starting to decrease?
• Does the feather loss seem to start at the head and end at the tail?
• Are the chickens growing in new feathers after losing their old feathers?
• Are multiple birds showing signs of feather loss?
• Have the hens stopped laying?

If you answered yes to all those questions, your flock may just be going through their annual molt. To learn more about molting, read my article on Molting 101! Some things you can do for your flock while they are molting include increasing the protein level in their diet and reducing stress factors.

Sometimes young pullets who are not quite a year old yet (and who did not molt in the fall) may go through a brief molt in the spring. If you notice feather loss in several of your flock members during the spring, they could just be going through a mild spring molt.

Other factors can also cause a non-natural molt to occur. Hens who are subject to sudden stress or who experience a sudden light change may go into a molt. Sudden light changes may happen if you use supplemental light during the winter months. Disease or parasites can also cause a non-natural molt.

#2. Treading

Another normal cause of feather loss in a flock can be from treading. Treading will only be a cause if you have a rooster in your flock or if you have a hen who acts like a rooster (which is not very common!). Treading is the motion of a rooster’s feet on a hen’s back when they are mating.

Here are some signs to determine if the feather loss in your flock is caused by treading:

• One or more hens are missing back and/or shoulder feathers.
• Some hens are also missing head feathers.
• There is not feather loss on other areas of the body, just the back, shoulder area, and head.

There is no way to stop the natural occurrence of mating unless you remove the rooster from the flock. However, there are some ways you can try and minimize the affect treading has on hens.

You can try and cushion the rooster’s spurs or start trimming them. I have seen breeders use foam noodles and vet wrap to cover up a rooster’s spurs and make them less damaging. You could also trim the spurs. Be careful when trimming spurs since they do contain a quick that is sensitive and will bleed. Spurs are not the only thing that causes the feather loss, movement of the feet and claws also rip out feathers on a hen’s back.

A better option would be to make or buy your hens chicken saddles. Chicken saddles are pieces of cloth or canvas that strap onto a hen’s back and protect her back feathers. Most hens will get used to wearing a saddle and I have found them to be effective tools for protecting my hens.

If your rooster has a favorite hen who especially gets the brunt of his attentions, you may consider quarantining her and allowing her to grow back her feathers. Giving a ‘favorite’ hen a break from a rooster will make her healthier and happier.

#3. Boredom Pecking

Pecking can be a prominent cause of feather loss in homestead flocks. There is a difference between pecking and bullying. Feather pecking often occurs out of curiosity or boredom. Here are some signs that you may be dealing with a pecking issue in your flock:

• Feathers are missing on the abdomen and vent area on select individuals within the flock.
• Chickens with muffs, beards, and crests are missing their feathers in those areas.
• Neck feathers are being pulled out by other flock members.

Chickens do not like change or difference. That is often why flock members with crests, beards, or muffs get pecked at. Another reason why muffed and bearded breeds have a hard time keeping their feathers is because water and food often collect on those feathers. Other flock members then become interested in the wet food on those feathers and pull them out.

The easiest way to prevent pecking in your flock is by keeping them from getting bored. Provide fun and healthy boredom busters, switch things up in their enclosure, or free-range your flock to prevent boredom. Feather pulling and then subsequent eating of the pulled feathers could also indicate a dietary deficiency.

If you want to help out chickens who have already lost feathers due to pecking, there are a few things you can do. You can quarantine them until they regrow their feathers. This may be a time-consuming process which may require re-integration in the end. Another common practice among chicken raisers is to put Blu-Kote or a homemade substitute on the affected area to deter further pecking.

Word of Caution:

Blu-Kote does sting when applied to open wounds, so only use it if the area lacking feathers contains no open wounds. Also, Blu-Kote is not intended for use on food animals.

#4. Bullying

Bullying can cause feather loss in the bird that is being bullied. There are several degrees of bullying that can range from serious bullying to simple pecking order restructuring. Severe cases of bullying may lead to feather loss. Here are some reasons why your flock may be bullying certain flock members:

• Improper integration can lead to bullying of the new flock members.
• Not enough space at feeders and waterers can cause the lowest members in a flock to be bullied.
• A crowded coop and enclosure can lead to bullying.
• Very assertive breeds that are kept with more docile breeds may present the problem of assertive individuals bullying docile individuals.
• Common areas for feather loss to occur because of bullying include the head and neck. Less common spots include the back and tail.

Proper integration is a must for preventing bullying. Other simple fixes to bullying include providing more feeders, waterers, and more space to roam.

If you can pinpoint who the bully is within your flock you can practice some disciplinary actions. This would entail separating the bully from the flock until he or she realizes that bullying is not allowed. You could even try removing the bully from the flock for a period of time and then properly re-integrating him/her back into the flock.

For more tips on dealing with a bully chicken, check out this article on Dealing with Bully Chickens.

#5. External Parasites

External parasites are a health issue that can causes feather loss. The two most common external parasites that cause feather loss include mites and lice. Mites and lice are annoying little bugs that like to feed on the skin and feathers of chickens. Some types of mites also enjoy sucking the blood from chickens.

Here are some signs that your flock’s feather loss is due to external parasites:

• Your chickens may appear to have ratty and torn feathers due to the parasites chewing on the feathers.
• When a bird’s wing is held up to a light source and you see tiny little holes in the feathers, that is a sign of mites.
• Feather loss due to parasites will occur in no specific order, unlike molting which follows a sequence.
• More than likely your whole flock will show signs of feather loss all at once since external parasites spread throughout a flock very rapidly.
• The surest way of determining feather loss due to parasites is the visible presence of tiny bugs crawling on your birds. Look for them around the vent, under the wings, and in crests, beards, and muffs.

Once you have determined that the feather loss your flock is dealing with is caused by external parasites, you will need to develop a treatment plan. I have found that lice are easier to treat than mites and that northern fowl mites are one of the hardest mites to treat completely.

Learn about my adventure dealing with northern fowl mites in my article on Treating Northern Fowl Mites. The one treatment that I have found to be effective against any external parasite is Elector PSP. It’s a little pricey, but well worth the one-time, no-hassle treatment application I can do for my whole flock.

Do a regular health check on each flock member to help prevent external parasites from becoming an infestation.

#6. Protein Deficiency

One diet-induced cause of feather loss includes a protein deficiency. A feather is comprised of 85% protein, so if there is not enough protein in a chicken’s diet, feathers will not be able to form properly. That also means that feathers are a source of protein. A chicken may try to fix a protein deficiency in its diet by pulling out its own feathers or other flock members’ feathers and then eating the feathers.

Here are some signs of a protein deficiency in your flock:

• Chickens are pulling out their own feathers or each other’s feathers and eating the feathers.
• Feathers are ratty and rough looking.
• Improper feather re-growth during the molt or slow feather re-growth after being pecked at or bullied.
• Weight loss and decreased egg laying may also indicate a protein deficiency.

The obvious fix to this feather loss issue would be to increase the protein in your flock’s diet. However, that is easier said than done. I have been dealing with protein issues with my breeding flock of Svart Honas and have done a lot of research on the importance of balancing protein and fat content in a chicken’s diet.

Check out these articles for more information on protein for chickens:

• Balancing Protein in a Flock’s Diet
• Protein Sources for Chickens

#7. Salt Deficiency

A less common diet related cause of feather loss is a salt deficiency. A salt deficiency does not necessarily cause feather loss, rather it causes chickens to purposely seek out feathers and blood to try and compensate for the salt deficiency. Signs of a salt deficiency will be similar to the signs of a protein deficiency. Try to determine accurately which deficiency you are dealing with before you start administering any supplements.

Here are a few signs of a salt deficiency:

• Chickens are pulling out feathers and eating them or are excessively eating feathers that have already fallen out.
• In extreme cases, chickens may seek out blood and cause injuries to each other.
• Pasture-raised birds are more likely to develop a salt deficiency than birds that eat more of a commercially formulated ration.

A salt deficiency can be solved by starting a salt treatment which entails adding salt to a flock’s drinking water (1 T. per gallon of water, repeat 3 days later). Supplemental salt can also be provided. Salt should not be provided without water, if a chicken ingests too much salt without enough water it will die.

A safer way to prevent a salt deficiency is to simply feed your flock foods that contain natural sources of salt. Sea kelp is a great natural supplement that can be incorporated into a flock’s diet as a supplement. It provides many different nutrients and minerals, including salt.

Notice: Salt poisoning is more common than a salt deficiency. If you try to give your flock supplemental salt when they do not have a salt deficiency, it could cause death. Be sure of your diagnosis before treating a salt deficiency.

Other Causes of Feather Loss

The seven causes of feather loss in homestead chickens that we just discussed are some of the most common reasons why a chicken may be losing its feathers. Of course, like any other poultry ailment, feather loss can be triggered by a number of other reasons too.

If none of your flock’s feather loss symptoms match the feather loss causes above, you may want to research these items:

• vent gleet– feather loss around the vent
• chick molting– applies to young chicks and not adult chickens, chicks go through 3 molts before they grow in adult feathers
• broody hens– broody hens pull out their breast feathers to line their nests with, you will also observe other signs of a broody hen that are hard to ignore!
• stress– sudden stressful occurrences can cause chickens to go into a molt, such as a predator attack
• sudden changes in light– decreased light triggers molting as does any sudden change in daylight hours

Feather loss in your homestead flock can be alarming, however it doesn’t always mean something is wrong with your flock. It could be from natural occurrences like molting or breeding, or it could be from management issues that you just need to fix. A dietary deficiency can also cause feather loss and is a more serious condition, however, you can still naturally correct a deficiency in your flock’s diet. If you know what causes feather loss in homestead chickens, then you should be able to make an accurate diagnosis and care for your flock the best you can!

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by Alexa