# Feather problem ?



## iain sherriff (May 5, 2021)

I have six Blubell chooks.
They all live in the same run, sleep in the same house and are the same age.

Over winter (UK) they started to look scruffy. They have a inside dust bath but far prefer the outside one they made in a flower bed but, of course , it was wet over winter.
One of the girls chose to for a full new coat.
Four just continue to look scruffy
One looks same as last year.

They get clean nest bedding and I add diatomaceous earth to the straw once a week.

Look at neck and in front of tail (and compare to unaffected chook)

Anyone suggest what they have got ?

thanks


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I see quills in the second pic so those are new feathers in that tail area. 

Have you seen feathers laying about? They could be molting.


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## iain sherriff (May 5, 2021)

hardly any.
They have looked like this since February. Laying didn't drop below stayed almost 1 a day through the winter. We assumed it was molt when it first appeared ..................


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## iain sherriff (May 5, 2021)

some more pics.

I looked with a magnifying glass and I can't see bugs.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Do you have a rooster? Most of the damage I see can be caused by a rooster.

Red mites don't live on chickens. Check your birds after dark to look for movement in their feathers around the neck and vent area.


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## iain sherriff (May 5, 2021)

No Rooster 
No problem around vents.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Are they lavenders?


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## iain sherriff (May 5, 2021)

Bluebells


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## danathome (Sep 14, 2020)

No rooster--I would suspect the good feathered bird bullying the others. It sure looks like what would be seen from overbreeding.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I think there's another bird doing that to them too. If everything else is negative, no rooster, no mites then that just leaves there's one in the flock that's feather picking.


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## danathome (Sep 14, 2020)

*And it is logical to assume it is the hen that is well feathered.*


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Yep.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

robin416 said:


> Yep.


That one.


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