Cant tell if Depluming mites, worms or picked on? Flight Feathers look eaten, pictures

[Maziemay]

Our 1.5 year old leghorn mix molly has feather issues. We had a jersey giant rooster pull out her neck feathers. We eventually had to get rid of him. Mollys feather never grew back. I noticed after we got rid of the rooster her feathers kept disappearing. I have given her pour on ivermectin and poultry dusted her wings. I dont see any mites or lice, but her skin looks rough. No other chicken in the flock has this. I am at a loss. Someone told me i needed to trim off her wing feathers so they grow back. I am hesitant about that treatment. I have given her extra protein. What am i missing or is there another treatment i can do to help her grow her feathers back and stop whatever is causing this? When she jumps up on the roost, it looks like skeleton flight feathers.
She eats and drinks and acts totally normal other than her feathers.

Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks in advance

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Trimming feathers won't make them grow. They aren't mammals.
Feather growth in adult birds depends on molt cycle. Just because feathers are missing from an area, they don't immediately grow back. If you are in the northern hemisphere, your birds will be molting soon and that is when feather regrowth will occur.
If it were another time of year, you could try a force molt but that isn't necessary when approaching fall.
The feather loss in front of the tail looks like typical damage from rooster breeding.
It sounds like you have taken care of any potential mite/lice problems so I would quit that activity. During molt, make sure they have some high-quality protein with all the essential amino acids.

ETA I see you are in Utah, she should have a new complete winter coat well before December.

 

[Maziemay]

Trimming feathers won't make them grow. They aren't mammals.
Feather growth in adult birds depends on molt cycle. Just because feathers are missing from an area, they don't immediately grow back. If you are in the northern hemisphere, your birds will be molting soon and that is when feather regrowth will occur.
If it were another time of year, you could try a force molt but that isn't necessary when approaching fall.
The feather loss in front of the tail looks like typical damage from rooster breeding.
It sounds like you have taken care of any potential mite/lice problems so I would quit that activity. During molt, make sure they have some high-quality protein with all the essential amino acids.

ETA I see you are in Utah, she should have a new complete winter coat well before December.

Thank you so much. Yes, the flock should start molting soon. I just hope mollys feathers grow back before the snow. I have just been adding protein to feed and have been giving protein treats “turkey meat or sandwich meat” I will make sure about the amino acids. I didnt know that helped as well. When i was told to cut the feathers. I was shocked cause i had never heard of anything so crazy like that. it is good to know i did the right thing. Thank you again

 

[ChickenCanoe]

No problem. The trimming of feathers had me scratching my head but I've been teaching chicken classes a long time and I know how people think. There are all the common misconceptions like there has to be a rooster to have eggs, brown eggs taste better than white, you can sex a chick by hanging it by its feet, etc.. People also say that shaving makes your hair grow and it is true that trimming split ends from hair can encourage growth so perhaps this person thought feathers worked the same way.
Once a feather is cut, damaged or plucked, it stays that way till the next molt.
Feathers are about 92% protein but only a couple amino acids are essential for feather growth. Like everything else, all things in moderation. Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.

 

[Maziemay]

I agree with you, it is interesting what people come up with or the misconceptions. But the cutting of feathers just threw me lol.

Thank you so much!

 

[aart]

Once a feather is cut, damaged or plucked, it stays that way till the next molt.

I thought if a feather was fully plucked a pin feather would soon start to grow?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I thought if a feather was fully plucked a pin feather would soon start to grow?

Have you experienced that?
I know to regrow feathers, the stem cells around the follicle become activated to initiate a new feather cycle during the initiation phase which happens after molt. But I know that cycling can be induced following plucking, but I don't know if it can be stimulated with the plucking of a single feather.

 

[DonyaQuick]

I thought if a feather was fully plucked a pin feather would soon start to grow?

Have you experienced that?
I know to regrow feathers, the stem cells around the follicle become activated to initiate a new feather cycle during the initiation phase which happens after molt. But I know that cycling can be induced following plucking, but I don't know if it can be stimulated with the plucking of a single feather.

Aart is correct that it does typically stimulate feather growth even with a single feather as long as the entire shaft is removed. I've had to pluck some feathers that were growing very badly on a variety of birds (finches, parrots, chickens) where the problem feather was causing the bird some kind of significant irritation (like ingrown feathers, damaged/bent feathers poking into an eye, etc.). In all cases, a new pin feather was working its way out in 1-3 weeks regardless of time of year or molt status.

Obligatory note to tack onto that: if it's just a cosmetic issue and the bird is otherwise fine, just leave it. You can cause skin damage and/or bleeding depending on the size and age of the feather (and if you do have to do it for some reason, always have a disinfectant and some styptic powder on hand).

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Thank you.

 

[aart]

Have you experienced that?

Only once really, and might not count, had to pluck a badly bleeding pin feather on a young cockerel.