# Wyandotte with odd feathers - only quill - otherwise healthy



## Phyllislikesfire (3 mo ago)

Hi! I have a small backyard flock of five hens (one Orpington, one Sussex, one leghorn, two silver laced wyandottes), all about 2.5 years old. The smaller of my Wyandottes has an issue that initially looked like a normal molt: her feathers are only quills, with no vanes or barbs except on the very tips! She's a bit skittish so it's hard to catch her for a good photo, but her comb is still red, her vent is clean, her skin isn't irritated - her feathers just look like crap!! None of my other birds have any feather, health, or parasite issues, including my other Wyandotte. I've watched them for signs of bullying (none) and I've inspected her for signs of mites (none that I see). The only things I can think of are either 1) she ate something causing a nutritional deficiency around the time of a molt, causing crap feather growth or 2) she's got depluming mites, but mysteriously the rest of the flock is 100% fine, and her skin and feet look good. When I've caught her, I notice she sheds a lot of feather debris compared to my other birds, so it's getting worse. I'm afraid she'll look like a naked porcupine soon. Has anyone seen something like this before?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

There should be feather inside those quills. See if you can strip one off. I have heard of them struggling to get the quills to release, that might be what's going on with her.

A closer pic would help some too. Right now she just looks a mess but it's hard to tell why.


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## DeLuc (3 mo ago)

Did this show up after molt? For how long is she having this issue?


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