Why do laying feathers fall out? Why chickens go bald: causes of fluff loss in different parts of the body and methods of treatment.

It is not uncommon for farmers to notice such a phenomenon as baldness behind their chickens. Scientifically, this manifestation is called alopecia. In this case, symptoms such as a dull, brittle and rare feather, the disappearance of fluff are observed. In order to take the right measures in time and prevent the development of this disease, you need to know the reasons why chickens go bald and what to do.

Risk Factors Why Chickens Go Bald

Baldness in chickens can occur locally or all over the body. Also, seasonal molting can overtake chickens. This process indicates an increase in livestock productivity. Usually molting occurs due to a lack of vitamins in the diet. Before you start treating such a phenomenon, you should determine its causes:

1. Lack of vitamins and unbalanced nutrition. Often, farmers use food complexes to feed their pets, not suspecting that certain vitamins and foods need to be given to chickens separately and at the right time. As a result, the birds get a lack of certain trace elements, so the chickens go bald.

2. Sufficient food for birds. During the period of natural molting, birds should have enough food, and sometimes you can even increase the dose. This is necessary so that when molting, new feathers grow faster in place of the lost ones.

3. Failure to comply with the living conditions of chickens. If there is no ventilation in the chicken coop, unsanitary conditions are created, or the air is too humid, then this may be the result of why laying hens are going bald.

4. To maintain the beautiful plumage of birds, you need to constantly consume vitamin D. If the body of the chicken lacks this vitamin, this can lead to baldness. To replenish vitamin D, birds should bask in the sun and spend more time in the fresh air. In winter, lighting should be carried out in the chicken coop, an electric light bulb is enough.

Therapeutic measures

If you have a question why chickens have a bald head, then in order to improve their health, you must first improve the conditions for their nutrition and maintenance. The better the chicken feed, the better their appearance. Walking outside also improves the condition of chicken feathers. Ultraviolet produces vitamin D, which helps restore plumage.
Bird nutrition also needs to be adjusted. Various trace elements and additives should be added to food, food should be saturated with organic sulfur.

1. When choosing a drinker, you should pay attention to the material. Do not give water to chickens from metal containers.

2. For prevention, you can make supplements. You can collect the feathers that have come out, cut them and add to the chickens' food. Feathers contain cystine, which protects against baldness. This component is present in the horns and hooves, so they are also crushed and mixed with the main food.

4. Gypsum and chalk have a positive effect on the body of chickens. The calcium present in them allows you to strengthen bones and return feathers.

5. It is desirable to introduce vitamin B12 into the diet, which restores plumage and promotes the exchange of amino acids.

Among other things, it is necessary to ensure that the chickens do not fight among themselves, because during the fight they pull out each other's feathers. This is completely undesirable, because in combination with other reasons, the situation is only getting worse.
Interesting on the topic .

If the birds pinch each other, they have a molt, or some kind of disease has struck the laying hens, this can cause feathers to fall out. In a healthy chicken, the feather cover should be bright and shiny, and any change in it means that the bird is unhealthy.

If feathers fall out of chickens, you should immediately contact your veterinarian so that other birds do not become infected. In addition, if this is not prevented in time, then the chicken will lose all its plumage in a short time.

Causes of baldness and symptoms

A disease in which the feathers of chickens become dull and brittle, and the downy layer disappears, is called alopecia. Most often it occurs in young individuals, the plumage of which is not sufficiently developed. Such birds have an unhealthy appearance, they are lethargic and freeze all the time due to missing feathers.

Alopecia is a sign that laying hens lack vitamins. The disease is dangerous because over time, bald chickens stop laying eggs. A sick chicken must be treated.

Causes of baldness:

Chickens can pluck each other's feathers, creating bald patches on their backs and necks. When a rooster tramples a hen, he also plucks her feathers in that area.

Symptoms

Birds go bald gradually, starting with tail feathers. Alopecia is characterized by a gradual loss of feathers and in a certain order:

• on the back;
• near the tail;
• in the region of the neck;
• on the chest;
• on the head.

Healthy chickens react sharply to sick neighbors and peck at them. This leads to cannibalism among the livestock.

Left without feathers, a bird with alopecia begins to suffer from poor heat transfer and freezes all the time. With advanced disease, the laying hen loses up to 90% of feathers.

With alopecia, the chicken is lethargic and bald. An unhealthy appearance of a bird indicates illness. By contacting the veterinarian in time and starting treatment, you can return plumage and health to the bird.

Prevention and treatment

To prevent chickens from getting sick, you need to create good conditions for them in the chicken coop.. Clean, ventilate, maintain the temperature more often and provide a cool corner during the hot period. You can install an ultraviolet lamp to make up for the lack of sunlight in winter. In the summer it is obligatory to release laying hens for 5 hours for a walk in the yard or a specially made paddock.

To improve nutrition, veterinarians recommend:

• add vitamins and minerals to the diet;
• add 0.3 grams of sulfur with each meal or replace it with organic sulfur-rich blood, bone meal and cabbage leaves;
• give a solution of potassium iodide (3-4 ml grams per bird) 1 time per day;
• drink manganese solution in the morning, every other day;
• reduce the supply of fat.

Chickens often go bald. Feather loss in small quantities may be due to a natural factor - seasonal molting. If the feathers become dull, brittle, fluff peels off in shreds, and noticeable bald patches form on the body of birds - these are signs of a disease called alopecia. To prescribe the right treatment and prevent further development of baldness, you need to determine the causes of the disease.

There are a number of reasons why chickens lose feathers on their backs:

What to do when laying hens or broilers lose their feathers? Only the right medical treatment will return a healthy appearance to feathered pets. Veterinarians recommend several drugs.

To eliminate alopecia, the following drugs are used:

1. Gamavit. Immunomodulating agent to increase resistance to stress and excessive stress. Used to increase egg production and egg mass in chickens by drinking. To dilute 5 ml of the product, use 1 liter of water. Animals are kept without water for 1 hour, after which they are fed once a day for 4–5 days.
2. Chiktonik. Multivitamin complex for strengthening immunity in the form of a solution for oral administration. Enriches feed with useful substances, normalizes metabolism, increases resistance to diseases. The product is produced in canisters of 1, 5 or 25 liters. Chickens are fed for 5 days. The solution is diluted with water in a proportion of 2 ml per 1 liter.
3. Ganasupervit. A complex preparation, which includes vitamins and minerals to normalize metabolism. Produced in the form of a powder of 0.1, 1, 5 or 25 kg. The dosage is determined by the method of application. When feeding, 1 kg is added to 1 ton of food; when drinking, 0.5 g is diluted in 1 liter of liquid. Reception lasts 5-7 days.
4. Desi spray. Wound healing spray, produced in the form of a spray. The volume of the bottle is 300, 500 and 1000 ml. Used to treat superficial wounds of various localization.
5. Operin. Specialized feed mixture for the rapid restoration of feather cover during molting. It normalizes the mineral balance, improves appetite and contributes to the overall health of the bird. Add to feed. For meat breeds, the use of Operin is recommended from the 4th month, for egg breeds - from 5–7 months.

Prevention

Experts give some useful tips for the prevention of sudden baldness in chickens, roosters and hens:

WARNING: The presence of bare body areas in bald chickens can cause cannibalism.

Seasonal shedding or alopecia

Distinguishing the natural loss of plumage from the disease is easy: when molting, the outer cover is updated, so small feathers fall out from the lower layers. Chickens grow bald gradually, plumage retains its color, silkiness.

Seasonal molting takes place within 1–2 months in a certain order:

1. Head.
2. Breast.
3. Back.
4. Wings.
5. Boca.
6. Tail.

Alarming symptoms of alopecia appear with improper care of the bird. Kura can peel off at any time of the year. Large feathers become brittle, discolored, fall out locally or in several areas at the same time.

With alopecia, there is a loss of the upper layer of plumage. Complete baldness affects the breast, butt, neck, tail, belly and other parts of the body of the chicken.

Disease danger

If left untreated, a bird can lose up to 90% of its feather cover in a short time.

Destructive processes begin leading to the death of the animal:

1. The skin becomes inflamed and bruised.
2. The scallop on the bird's head fades and peels off.
3. The immune system is greatly reduced.
4. Reproductive function is impaired.
5. Problems begin in the work of vital organs.

IMPORTANT: Mangy chickens are prone to weakness, lose weight, stop laying eggs. Timely treatment is necessary to avoid death.

Progressive alopecia is harmful to the health and egg production of birds. From the loss of feather cover, immunity decreases, naked birds freeze and risk catching other diseases. Plumage recovery is slow, so it is better to stop or prevent the development of the disease in time.

Fermaved.ru » Poultry » Chickens » The cause of baldness in chickens and how to eliminate it

Why do chickens go bald

Chickens are good helpers in the household, the production of meat and domestic eggs. They delight many with their appearance, plumage and proud gait. But it is worth sounding the alarm when a pet begins to thin out, feathers fall out - chickens go bald. This is not only an aesthetic problem, it is important to pay attention to the health of the livestock.

Symptoms of baldness in chickens

Alopecia is the scientific name for baldness in chickens.

So there is a chance to prevent complete baldness of chickens and roosters, and the treatment will be short-lived. You can confuse alopecia with natural molting: first, the head becomes bald in places, and then the whole body.

During this period, the lower layer of feathers falls out, and chickens need special feeding and care.

But if the feather cover began to fall abundantly on the neck and back? these are the first signs of alopecia. If you do not start treatment, then in a short period the wings of the chickens will grow bald, from the scallop to the tail, the head will go bald first. From the photo, they will look like the famous Israeli broiler breed of chickens.

This is an unusual and completely unusual breed for us - absolutely bald chickens, they look especially intimidating in the photo. The broilers themselves are healthy, they are not susceptible to any disease. They have no plumage and scientists are trying to prove that such birds exist, like other hairless animals or albinos.

Needless to say, they haven't been very good at it yet.

During the period of alopecia, immunity decreases in chickens, weight drops, menstruation disappears, egg production drops, and the quality of eggs deteriorates. Because of the bare patches on the skin, chickens can develop cannibalism. Other chickens will simply peck at a sick laying hen, wounds will appear and an infection or sore may enter there.

Causes of alopecia

Why do chickens go bald? Many novice farmers are not even aware of such a problem until they personally encounter it.

These are the 5 main factors that affect baldness in chickens. To avoid problems in the question of why chickens are going bald, it is enough to monitor the nutrition of birds, daily walking and sanitary conditions must comply with the norm.

As soon as deviations in the behavior of chickens become noticeable, it is necessary to call a veterinarian. He will tell you what the problem is, give advice on how to treat them. In the photo, in particular, it is clearly seen that the laying hen, suffering from symptoms of alopecia, is extremely emaciated and looks very bad.

But if measures are taken in time, the chickens will delight the owner with their appearance and healthy activity.

Although chickens are not whimsical in food and maintenance, they, like any other household inhabitants, need to be monitored and cared for. If you want birds to be healthy, produce consistently tasty eggs and meat, you need to put in a lot of effort.

Prevention of hair loss in chickens

There are several ways to prevent hair loss in chickens. From the above causes of alopecia, it can be concluded that proper nutrition, regular walks in the fresh air, swimming in the sun and keeping the chicken coop clean are the key to healthy birds and the best prevention.

To compensate for the lack of vitamin D in winter, you can install ultraviolet lamps inside the chicken coop: this will help to avoid the appearance of bald chickens: this way the birds will receive both vitamins and proper lighting.

Feather flour (contains vitamin cystine), flour from ground bones of meat and fish (contains organic sulfur) will help to make the diet balanced, you can buy various injections in veterinary pharmacies or what the doctor prescribes.

It is important to monitor the availability of water in chickens. You should get rid of the metal drinker, it is better to replace it with a plastic or wooden one. Among other things, you need to add calcium to the diet in its various variations (gypsum, chalk). This contributes to the improvement and strengthening of feathers and bones in birds.

And, of course, it is important to detect the first symptoms of infection and immediately respond to them. In the early stages, you can do without injections, but only review the diet, conditions of detention, improving them.

BALD HENS REASON // BIRD

COUNTRY CASES - An overview of the winter chicken coop. Why are chickens hairless?

Many are not even aware of such a problem as alopecia until they encounter it by personal example. It can affect any breed (even broilers), in summer and winter, why and for what reason, you need to determine immediately, otherwise the bird may die.

If you follow the elementary rules and the above tips, you can avoid and stop the disease in time.

You must first understand the cause of the disease, which was the main factor in the development of the disease. Perhaps the moment was missed during the molting period, when the body of adults, young animals and chickens is more vulnerable and only the back becomes bald in chickens.

Source: https://FermoVed.ru/kuryi/pochemu-lyseyut.html

Why do chickens drop feathers and how to treat chicken alopecia?

Baldness of chickens or, in other words, alopecia, is a fairly common problem in poultry yards. Often the owners cannot understand why their pets are going bald.

It is impossible to give an unambiguous answer to this question, because there may be several reasons, and most often a couple of negative factors lead to such a consequence at once. Let's take a closer look at this issue.

Symptoms and signs

To identify this disease will help determine the order of feather loss. So, at first, the chicken loses the feather cover on the back and neck, followed by the tail, chest and stomach going bald.

It can get to the point that the bird remains completely naked.

Inflammation of the skin and bruising are also often observed. In addition, feathers not only fall out, but also become faded and inelastic. Fluff may also fall out.

Chickens of meat (broilers) and meat-and-egg breeds are more susceptible to this disease, but this can also happen with laying hens.

If you notice these symptoms in your pets, then you need to immediately start looking for the cause in order to eliminate it as soon as possible.

Chickens can become bald if they feed on beef thyroid for a long time.

Why is it so important to detect and fix this problem in time? The fact is that with the loss of feathers in chickens, egg production decreases, they gain weight poorly and the risk of various unpleasant infections increases. Cannibalism is also often observed among the herd - the birds peck at each other to the point of blood, and this creates favorable conditions for the penetration of pathogenic organisms.

However, alopecia should not be confused with seasonal molting of chickens. During natural molting, feathers do not lose their elasticity and silkiness, and only the lower layers of the feather cover fall out, like the undercoat of mammals. If you notice that the bird has begun to "dump" large upper feathers - this is a reason to sound the alarm.

Causes

Of course, baldness or alopecia can be the result of various diseases, but most often this phenomenon occurs in completely different cases:

Experience shows that the most common cause is a violation of the diet. Chickens, like people, need food that is rich in various vitamins and minerals (calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, cystine, potassium).

However, this problem can arise not only from poor-quality feed, but also when the chickens “do not eat up”, so the owners need to make sure that the birds are always full. You can calculate the required portion by experience.

The following tips will help you adjust the nutrition of domestic chickens:

• add important vitamins and minerals to the feed (vitamin-mineral complexes for chickens can be easily found at any veterinary pharmacy or pet store);
• at each meal, add sulfur or Glauber's salt - 2-3 mg for each individual (sulfur), 1 mg for each chicken (salt);
• give the birds feather meal - it will help replenish the reserves of cystine, which is necessary for the qualitative formation of the feather cover). You can cook it yourself, just collect and grind the fallen feathers, you can also use the horns and hooves of cattle for this purpose;
• add greens to food in large volumes - free range will help in summer, and grass meal in winter; do not forget about important trace elements - manganese sulphate (6-8 mg per bird) and potassium iodide (3-4 mg per bird);
• if alopecia is fatal and birds go bald by leaps and bounds, stock up on vitamin B12 - it can be administered both intramuscularly and with food. Such measures will help to quickly restore the feather cover, as well as improve the exchange of amino acids;
• increase the doses of calcium, because it plays an important role in the formation of not only feathers, but also bones and a beak. For this purpose, chickens are recommended to give gypsum, chalk, tricalcium phosphate and monocalcium phosphate;
• to restore the level of trace elements in the body of birds, you can give them a weak solution of potassium permanganate or iodine (once a day every other day);
• reduce the amount of fat in the feed and increase the amount of protein.

These activities will help to quickly adjust the diet of broilers and layers, and restore their feather cover in the shortest possible time.

Improve the conditions of detention

Often, along with improper and poor nutrition, the cause of alopecia is a violation of the conditions of detention. Often, birds suffer from a lack of vitamin D, which is produced when exposed to the sun.

This is especially true for those owners who keep chickens in cages. If it is not possible to organize walking for at least an hour or two a day, then the house must be equipped with special ultraviolet lamps that will ensure the production of vital vitamin D.

Installing large windows can partially solve this problem.

• chicken mites;
• fleas;
• downy eaters;
• mice and rats.

Chicken mites are active at night - it is at night that chickens should be checked for infection. Ticks and downy eaters form a substance similar to cotton wool - here they live and multiply.

If such a “nest” is found, it must be destroyed immediately. Downy eaters should be looked for at the base of the feathers.

Often, mice and rats spoil the beautiful feather cover of chickens. Try to close up all the cracks, and even better, make a concrete floor in the chicken coop - then the rodents will not be able to enter the home of your pets.

How to prevent problems in the future?

If you have dealt with this problem and your chickens are fluffy and beautiful again, or you want to prevent alopecia in your poultry house, then a few simple rules will help you with this:

Following these simple rules will help your birds stay beautiful and healthy throughout their lives.

Source: http://greenologia.ru/eko-zhizn/xozyajstvo/fermerstvo/pticevodstvo/kury/bolezni/alopecia.html

SOS! Why do chickens lose their feathers?

Baldness in chickens is scientifically called alopecia. There may be several reasons for this state of feathered. Each of them can be solved quite simply even at home. The main thing is to identify in time what caused baldness.

If you notice that poultry feathers began to fall out intensively, first in the tail area, then on the back, neck and sides, then, most likely, health problems can be diagnosed in it. Bald patches of skin on the body of a chicken may also be covered with lesions that may indicate the presence of a particular disease. Why is this happening? Let's consider further.

The most common cause of feather loss in birds is molting. It occurs at certain times of the year (usually in autumn) and is not accompanied by a complete loss of feathers. If the back of the bird is completely bald, then this condition may already indicate an anomaly.

Another reason for the loss of feathers can be the pecking of birds from each other. More often, such ugly behavior is observed in roosters who love to pluck feathers from their favorite females.

Below you can find out why feathers fall out of domestic chickens.

The photo shows how a rooster can grow bald with improper care.

What is the danger of the disease

Alopecia is really not a serious condition, and even more so does not cause a fatal outcome, if this disease is identified in time and the fight against it begins. If chickens go bald and do nothing, then as a result, the disease can spread. If neglected, poultry have negligible performance or even die.

You can get rid of partial or complete baldness if you pay attention to the problem in time.

In the fight against the disease, both medical and folk methods of struggle can be useful, which we will discuss below.

Which is better is up to the owner to decide, since each case is individual and requires its own methods of solution. If self-treatment at home does not help, then it is better to consult a veterinarian.

Traditional Methods

The simplest thing a poultry farmer can do is improve the nutrition of poultry, add more beneficial amino acids and vitamins. In some cases, you have to completely revise the feeding, change its components. It is also important to monitor the length of daylight hours and a sufficient amount of rays falling on the skin of chickens.

With natural feeding, do not forget about useful additives, such as sulfur (what is it? It contains useful components for feather growth). Sulfur is found in cabbage leaves, bone meal, and beans.

Additionally, you can make a solution containing sulfuric acid manganese and potassium iodide. In a regular veterinary pharmacy, you can buy combustible sulfur and give one gram per kilogram of compound feed.

It is also useful to add Glauber's salt and feather flour, which contains cystine, to the feed.

Folk methods

If chickens go bald, then in addition to traditional ones, alternative methods of dealing with alopecia can be effective. When cleaning the chicken coop, collect all the fallen feathers and then finely chop them with a knife.

Add the resulting mass to the feed of the birds. In some cases, it is necessary to make flour from the horns and hooves from livestock. This consistency should be added to the feed until improvement is noticeable.

Vitamin B-12 contributes to the active exchange of amino acids and helps the plumage to recover. You can enter the vitamin with food or with injections intramuscularly. Chalk and gypsum in the diet of domestic chickens also have a beneficial effect on the body of birds.

Water for domestic chickens should be in a container made of any material other than metal.

“Winter keeping of chickens. Living house"

In this video, you will learn how to properly keep poultry in the winter and why it needs more attention.

Source: http://klyv.ru/kury/lechenie/kak-spravitsya-s-oblyseniem-7119/

What to do if chickens lose feathers?

Livestock breeders are often faced with bird baldness. Feather loss in chickens is manifested by the occurrence of alopecia. Areas of baldness appear first on the neck, then on the back. Poultry farmers notice that the cover of laying hens becomes brittle and disheveled, thins out. Skin spots appear without feathers.

The harmfulness of baldness consists not only in the untidy appearance of the bird - the development of the individual slows down, egg production decreases. Gradually, chickens fall out feathers on their backs, wings, belly, tail, buttocks. Egg laying stops.

It is necessary to understand why feathers fall out and eliminate the cause of the anomaly.

Beginning of the molt

Causes of baldness

The process of feather loss in a bird is called molting. Why do chickens go bald? This happens for the following reasons.

Juvenile molt

The juvenile feather change begins in chicks of one month of age and continues until the laying of hens begins. With full feeding, this natural process is painless, the bird peels off and overgrows again.

The result of malnutrition of a broiler

Seasonal feather change

Chickens lose feathers mainly in autumn. In the wild, the bird hatches chicks in the spring to ensure their survival in warm weather. The intensity of oviposition stimulates a lengthening daylight hours. Why do birds go bald in autumn? Shortening daylight hours inhibits reproductive function. Alopecia in chickens occurs due to the need to renew their plumage for winter.

Egg-laying during natural molting stops for 4–5 months. Zootechnical breeding has bred breeds of chickens in which the instinct of incubation is suppressed, capable of rushing at low temperatures, if they artificially extend the daylight hours to 12-14 hours.

seasonal molt

Forced

Egg poultry farming cannot be profitable if the duration of the change of plumage is 4 months or more. Therefore, farmers use forced molting.

In the conditions of poultry farms, after an 8–10-month egg-laying cycle, the state of the livestock is assessed and a decision is made whether to change it or carry out artificial molting.

At the same time, egg production will decrease somewhat, but it will not be necessary to spend time and money on raising young animals.

spring molt

Pathological

Observed in broiler chickens and laying hens. There are the following causes:

With pathological molting, the loss of luster and brightness of color by feathers is characteristic. The shell becomes thinner, becomes brittle or soft. The red beard and scallop turn pale, dry up. The intensity of oviposition decreases until it stops altogether.

Laying hens peck at the shell of eggs, drink them, cannibalism or pecking develops.

Control measures

What to do to prevent the appearance of bare priests in chickens? The following recommendations must be followed:

• organization of the poultry keeping system;
• feeding optimization;
• carrying out artificial molting;
• pest control.

Organization of the poultry management system

An amateur poultry farmer is obliged to ensure that chickens are kept in an insulated barn, if possible, heated. Otherwise, in winter there will be an overexpenditure of feed for heat production.

The room should have natural or forced ventilation, as well as electric lighting to extend daylight hours to 12-14 hours in autumn and winter. It is required to ensure optimal planting density.

Walking areas are equipped with a hard surface to protect the bird from getting wet in the mud.

Dried scallop. The chicken is not laying

Feeding optimization

The best way to prevent pathological molting is the use of complete mixed fodders. The disadvantage is their high cost.

If the poultry farmer has grain of his own production, he can make a complete feed mixture by including PMMA in an amount of up to 15% by weight of the diet.

If a farmer, in addition to grain, has sunflower or soybean meal, feed costs can be reduced by purchasing 3% Superconcentrate for laying hens. True, you will have to purchase calcium top dressing - shell or limestone.

Carrying out artificial molting

Natural or pathological molting lasts 4–5 months, during which time the bird does not produce eggs, which leads to overspending of feed and money for livestock maintenance.

Schemes for the change of plumage have been developed, ending with the resumption of egg-laying 2 months after the start.

Chickens are deprived of food, water and light for 3 days, or other options for influencing the body are used. The feather reset begins, the birds become bald. For about a week they are fed with grain, starting with 20 g and gradually increasing to the norm - 110–120 g of dry food. Cereal components are replaced with complete feed.

The duration of the light regime is gradually increased to 12-14 hours. On the 10th day, chickens are transferred to an enhanced diet with an increased level of amino acids, energy, and other nutrients to stimulate the growth of new feathers to replace the fallen ones. After that, the bird is given standard compound feed.

A month later, oviposition resumes.

Disinsection

How to treat hair loss caused by lice? It is necessary to carry out disinfestation of the premises, freeing it from the bird.

Farmers who are accustomed to using non-traditional treatments should understand that it is possible to stop baldness in chickens using the achievements of modern science. Amateur poultry farmers are offered to solve problems in alternative ways:

• elimination of sulfur deficiency;
• optimization of mineral nutrition;
• providing chickens with vitamins.

Elimination of sulfur deficiency

The basis of the pen is the sulfur-containing amino acid cystine, which can be synthesized in the body from methionine. The drug is contained in BVMK or premixes.

The need for methionine is reduced if sodium sulfate is included in the feed mixture instead of chloride (common salt). Poultry farms use meat and feather meal from dead chickens.

The use of chopped feathers or crushed ungulate horns as food is a thing of the past. The above methods are useful.

Chickens peck eggs

Optimization of mineral nutrition

Laying hens need calcium supplements - shell or limestone. If you want to increase the amount of phosphorus, use tricalcium phosphate not more than 2% by weight. The use of chalk is not recommended, it worsens the structure of the feed, making it difficult to consume.

Providing chickens with vitamins

A poultry farmer who seeks to enrich the diet of a bird with any vitamin or microelement risks making a mistake and doing harm. It is recommended to use ready-made premixes for chickens, in which biological catalysts are contained in sufficient quantities at an optimal ratio.

Kira Stoletova

Every person who breeds poultry wants his animals to be healthy, and the productivity from their breeding to be at the highest possible level. But sometimes it happens that birds fall out feathers in different parts of the body. This process has received the scientific name - alopecia. The causes of the phenomenon can be different, therefore, before starting to take any measures, the owners should find out why feathers fall out of chickens. Only then can you begin to fight alopecia.

It is important to remember that self-treatment of animals, as well as self-treatment of people, can be carried out only after coordinating the methods with a specialist. It is also important to remember that the use of official medicines does not always give an immediate effect.

Distinctive features of the problem

It's no secret that chickens, like any other birds, go through the season. During this period, feathers from the tail fall out of the birds, foci appear on the neck, and feathers fall off the wings. Therefore, a person who first encountered such a phenomenon as feather loss may confuse the change of plumage and alopecia.

During the loss of feathers in chickens, which is not due to the seasonal change of plumage, certain parts of the body of the bird fall under the influence of the problem, namely:

• neck and chest area;
• less often - back and tail.

If the fallen feathers are discolored, this clearly indicates that the bird has come under the influence of alopecia. Also, due to the development of a problem situation, fluff may also fall out, which does not occur during seasonal molting.

Chickens go bald due to alopecia at any time of the year. This is one of the main distinguishing features, helping breeders to determine the moment when it is worth worrying about the health of their birds.

As soon as the owner notices that the feathers of his pets began to fall out too abundantly, discolor and cause baldness in certain areas of the body, it is worth finding out what is the cause of the alopecia and taking measures to eliminate the problem, otherwise the chickens may completely lose their plumage. In most cases, it can be argued that complete baldness due to alopecia threatens representatives of meat or meat and dairy breeds, for example,.

What causes feathers to fall out

In order to provide timely and proper assistance to your household, it is important to correctly determine the cause of the loss of plumage from the many possible ones. At the current time, the following reasons for the development of the problem are known, due to which plumage may fall out in laying hens:

Feathers fall out in domestic chickens due to the fact that the diet of birds is not balanced enough. Deviations in bird feeding become the main reason why such a problematic situation as alopecia develops, the skin rejects the feather. Here you can draw a fairly simple analogy with a person: if in the human body any vitamin or important element is present in insufficient quantities, this begins to affect its state of health and appearance, the skin becomes pale and dry. Chickens with a similar deficiency begin to lose their plumage on the neck, chest or tail.

Baldness of a bird on the neck and other parts of the body can develop in case of a lack of the following elements obtained through nutrition:

• calcium;
• phosphorus;
• sulfur.

However, in poultry, feathers fall out of the tail or other part of the body, not only when it is not properly fed. In the conditions of keeping laying hens, there is another reason why plumage is rapidly falling out. Chickens can lose their plumage if, when kept at home, the owners provided them with insufficient lighting, not well organized, or did not maintain the proper level of cleanliness.

If, in the conditions of keeping and caring for birds, there are no violations that can cause a problem, and feathers continue to fall out on the back, neck or pope, it is worth considering whether the pets receive enough food, maybe they have a lack of vitamins. During the period of seasonal change of plumage, birds eat 2 times more than in the rest of the time. It is for this reason that with insufficient feeding, the chicken may lose those feathers that she needs.

Symptomatic picture of alopecia

The fact that a bird is prone to plumage loss can be recognized by several signs. As soon as they are identified, it is worth starting to determine the cause of this phenomenon and appropriate remedial measures, otherwise the health of the bird will weaken so much that it will become vulnerable to all possible diseases.

The presence of alopecia is indicated not only by the deprivation of feathers and fluff, but also by a decrease in the egg production of pets, a decrease in immunity and weight loss. There are also known cases of chicken due to the development of this problem.

With alopecia, basically the desired cover falls on the neck, back, root of the tail, on the stomach and chest. Running cases can lead to feathered. The initial examination of a sick animal also shows that in the affected areas of the code it has become inflamed, sometimes bruising may even appear.

Why feathers fall out of chickens, how to get rid of a feather-eater (tick) at no cost

disease - feathers fall out

BALD HENS REASON // BIRD

What are the ways to solve the problem

In order to cure your pets, it is important to understand as clearly as possible why feathers fall out on the butt or neck of both the chicken and the rooster. Each specific case of alopecia development requires individual measures, so the owner needs to clearly know what to do when plumage falls out on the back, neck or tail, depending on the cause.

How to deal with malnutrition

As mentioned earlier, the causes of feather loss begin with an improper diet. An auxiliary symptom in this case is that the feathers do not shine enough. Egg laying levels may also decrease. In this case, you can fix the problem as follows:

1. Add more minerals to the feed and. You can do this by buying special additives in the store.
2. In addition to vitamins, add sulfur to the feed in the amount of 0.3 g for each meal. Instead of sulfur, Glauber's salt can be used.
3. The use of solutions of iodine or potassium permanganate will help restore the balance of minerals. To prevent the loss of plumage, such solutions are watered in the morning 1 time in 2 days.

What will help stop the loss with the wrong content

If the reason for the development of feather loss lies in the conditions in which birds are kept, it is quite simple to correct the situation: all pollution should be removed from the premises for keeping birds, and then carried out. Also, checking and adjusting the ventilation system and airing the premises will help fix the problem.

In order not to carry out regular disinfection with chemical agents, it is possible to provide for the natural destruction of infections with the help of sunlight.

To do this, it is enough to make a window of a sufficiently large size in the building where the chickens are located. A large window will allow sunlight to freely enter the building for natural disinfection.

The use of ash will help protect your feathered pets from falling feathers on the neck and other parts of the body.

What else can help

It is important not only to stop the loss of plumage on the neck and other parts of the body of the chicken, but also to restore the lost cover. It is also necessary to return the fallen indicators. To do this, you can purchase lamps that emit ultraviolet light, with sufficient financial capacity. This will increase the level of egg laying in the winter, as well as replenish the missing amount of vitamin D.

Also, in restoring the state of health with alopecia, the use of the following foods helps:

• legumes;
• bone flour;
• cabbage;
• roots;
• cake;
• oats.

Also, the stabilization of adult hens and chickens when feathers fall out will help reduce the amount of fatty foods in the diet. Sometimes a disturbance in the feeding system of birds can cause molting.

To understand what exactly causes molting, you need to monitor pets, observing whether a change in food helps. If a change in diet does not help, you need to look for a specialist veterinarian.

Conclusion

Alopecia is a rather serious problem. It leads to the fact that birds not only lose their feathers on the neck and elsewhere, they go into a state of general weakness and vulnerability to disease due to weakened immunity.

Before doing anything to stop this process, it is important to distinguish alopecia from normal seasonal shedding. The distinguishing features are as follows:

• feathers lose their luster, and the fallen plumage is discolored;
• with alopecia, not only feathers can fall out, but also fluff;
• the skin in the affected areas turns red, bruising is possible;
• the level of laying eggs decreases, immunity is weakened.

So, if the pets are bald, and the skin at the place where the feathers fell out turned red - it's time to run as fast as you can to the veterinarian for advice, although there are many folk remedies that will help eliminate the problem and stabilize the condition of feathered pets. However, before applying them, it is important to correctly determine the cause of alopecia, otherwise the measures taken will not be effective enough and will not be able to completely eliminate the problem. In the event that all of the above methods do not help, you need to change the place where the birds are kept.