Molting or mites? Or both?

[Dec232000]

Not sure if my red sex link chicken has mites or is molting or both? She’s never molted before. The wings look like molting but her tail feathers just look brittle and wispy and thin. I don’t see bugs when I look closely. My other hens are leghorns and don’t show any issues with their feathers.

 

[Kiki]

What's your weather like?
How old is she?
What do you feed her?

 

[Dec232000]

We had a really hot summer and that’s when I first noticed the tail feathers looking brittle and thin. I thought maybe it was stress from heat. Now it has cooled off nicely. I noticed that wing feathers more recently. I feed them Dumor layer pellets and occasional veggie scraps, scratch and dried mealworms.

 

[Dec232000]

She is probably about a year and a half

 

[chickens4pet]

I agree with you - the wings are molting - a year and a half is right on schedule for first molt. And the tail looks like some kind of mite. Do treat her for that to protect new feathers coming in. I use a permethrin poultry dust. Some chickens seem to have soft feathers more delicious to mites than others, but if no others have it, it seems more likely a mite on the bird than in the housing - but consider both.