Only one hen missing feathers

[bikerchick2]

Please help.. I'm on my 2nd month of chicken keeping and I've run into my first significant issue. One of my middle aged alpha-hens, Snow White, is suddenly missing a lot of feathers. She is pretty mean so its hard to imagine her getting picked on. Quite the other way around. There are 2 roosters in there - one of them runs away from Snow White.

While I recently transferred a new hen and her two 1 mo. old chicks into the cage they are low on the packing order and I doubt are causing the damage. The Napa fires are burning, smoke everywhere and we evacuated for 3 days. When I came back I noticed that she was missing a lot of feathers on her neck and breast

Do I have mites? My other chickens are thankfully all looking good.. Should I separate her in case she has a sickness? Do you recognize the damage in the pics? Thank you for the help!

 

[sourland]

She is molting - see all of the pin/blood feathers ?

 

[21hens-incharge]

Looks like she is going through a hard molt.
Support can be given by adding extra protein for her. I give mine canned mackerel during molting.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

My birds are currently molting and losing quite a lot of feathers- it’s very common! There are many resources on BYC about what is happening to help you feel more comfortable about the situation. The tell-tale of molting for me personally is suddenly seeing prominent larger feathers loose on the ground and in the coop- not just tiny fluffy feathers. The tails will look a bit naked as well. I think that may be this baby’s current situation- I applaud you for being so concerned and wanting to know what is happening!

 

[FarmerGirl101]

This is all normal! She is just molting and it seems that she lost a lot of her feathers. You could give her some extra protein to help support her

 

[bikerchick2]

Thank you all so much! I will make sure to get her some protein and read up on molting.