Mites Molting or Something else.. HELP!

[chubbiechicken]

Most of my flock(9) out of 13 are losing down feathers under belts and around tail.. A few have naked lower backs. I have DE on the ground and inside coop with neem oil on perches. I have checked for mites a few times at night and see nothing.. I have put them in a tub of DE twice now and coated them with it. Maybe protein deficiency? Or mites and I need to dust them with poultry dust? Any info would be great! This has been going on for about a few months

or more

 

[baileyw]

Hm weird a few of my chickens have mites and this has not happened to them so I'm wondering if it might be molting or something else..

 

[chubbiechicken]

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Eggcessive]

When you see feather loss on the saddle area or on the back of the neck, it is usually from over breeding by a young cockerel. They tend to breed with any that are agreeable. But you also have some feather loss around the vent, and so you probably have some feather picking or vent pecking going on. A feed store cream, Nustock may help prevent the picking. It is sulfur and pine oil, is antifungal and healing, plus the bad taste helps. Others use menthol ointments as in BenGay, or Vicks. Chickens will peck out of boredom, from a lack of protein, and too little room, but some chickens just develop this bad habit. Feed at least 16% protein layer feed, let them outside during daylight hours, and make sure the coop is not overcrowded.

 

[Vaper]

This is exactly what is happening to my chickens. What was the problem and how did you fix it? This is my first year raising chickens and I really have no idea what I’m doing.

 

[Aaronleon]

I know what that is! What's your rooster to hen ratio? The culprit is a rooster, excessive mating with certain hens, or you don't have enough hens to go around. They are balding in the area he continues to stand on and place his feet to balance during his mount.

Simple fix is to isolate either those injured hens until they recover or isolate the rooster himself.

Sorry I know this post was made a whole ago, but I hope this helps someone else.

 

[Gangaschicks]

I know what that is! What's your rooster to hen ratio? The culprit is a rooster, excessive mating with certain hens, or you don't have enough hens to go around. They are balding in the area he continues to stand on and place his feet to balance during his mount.

Simple fix is to isolate either those injured hens until they recover or isolate the rooster himself.

Sorry I know this post was made a whole ago, but I hope this helps someone else.

Thank you for your answer. This is my first year raising chickens since I was a small child and this is happening to my chickens I ended up with 3 roosters, one is very dominate, and 10 laying hens. Dudley is very bocal and very fiesty. He made his domince known from the beginning.