Chickens loosing feathers?

[JimWWhite]

I've already started giving them extra protein. I give them the leftover catfood, dogfood and any meat scraps (not chicken) we might have after a meal. I even snitch a scoop of Teresa's protein powder and mix it in with the leftovers, etc. and give it to them and they go hog wild over it. I just hope it works. I'll report back in a few weeks if there's any improvement or not.

 

[so lucky]

@JimWWhite, are you saying your chickens have looked like that for over a year? Or again this year?
I'm just thinking out loud here, but I'm wondering if the laying mash they get is somehow not providing available protein. When chicken feed went up so high a couple years ago, maybe the manufacturers started using a cheaper kind of protein that the chickens can't fully utilize.
I see some ads for chicken feed that brag about being totally animal-protein free. Why would you brag about that? Chickens are not vegetarians!

 

[bobm]

Good point that chickens are not vegetariens ... neither are humans !

 

[JimWWhite]

I've got to get a couple of bags tomorrow so I'll check the label to see if it provides a protein percentage. But yes, last year they began to lose their feathers in the early spring but most put them back on during the winter time. Of course they were laying less during the winter so that could account for them not needing as much protein. And I'm pretty sure it's not mites or any kind of parasites, at least not those visible on their rear ends. Then with the spring this year they began to lose feathers again. Egg production went up too. Might be a coincidence... We'll see. I'm giving them extra protein so maybe in a week or two we'll start to see some results. I'll make sure to post if anything changes.