Topic: pulling feathers out

[paulinems]

my silver coloured chicken is starting to pull out her feathers i thought she was malting but i saw her do it today hubby says she may have a mite any idears please.she is one of the ones in my pic
Pauline

[Marymary]

I'm not an expert but it's possible that she is moulting & just pulling out the loose feathers.  The problem is usually other chickens pulling out feathers - never heard of one pulling its own feathers out.

[OliveOil]

If feathers are loose and she is moulting then she will pull them out.

Which feathers is she concentrating on??? If round her tail/bum then could very likely be lice... a dusting of louse powder should do the trick. I dust mine every month so they rarely have lice now.

Problem with lice is if you dont catch them early they can be a bugger to get rid of properly.  The lice lay eggs round teh bum - looks like white dried poo usually so its hard to tell but you must get this white stuff off - pull the feathers or cut them off - if this is the problem of course.