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Chickens’ feathers can turn white for a few different reasons, including molting, injury, unbalanced diet, vitiligo, leucism, albinism, and old age. Not all of these issues require intervention from you, but others do. Make sure you’re paying attention to the condition of your chickens so you can take action to help at any sign of illness. You should also keep their coops clean and provide regular parasite prevention.
White Feathers When Molting
When chickens molt, they’ll often develop white feathers. All feathers can turn white, but especially their neck feathers, at least to begin with. These old feathers lose pigment and turn white as your chicken gets ready to shed them and grow new, healthy feathers.
While the white usually starts at the neck, it quickly spreads to the back and breast, and even the tail feathers. As new feathers grow in and the molting process finishes, you chickens should go back to their original color.
You don’t need to do anything – there’s no need to call a vet or administer first aid. Molting is a natural process, during which chickens lose their old feathers and grow new ones. However, it can be hard on your birds, so keep them happy and stress free, in a clean chicken coop, with plenty of food and forage.
Growing feathers is hard work, and feathers are made of 80 percent protein, so feed your chickens plenty of extra protein during this time, like cooked oats, with a good sprinkle of grubs on top. Mealworms like these are good value and give your chickens a good protein boost.
And don’t be surprised if they stop laying eggs while they finish their molt.
Injuries Can Cause Chicken Feathers to Turn White
If your birds’ feathers are turning white, it could be that the feathers have sustained an injury. This can be from parasites like mites or lice, or from actual physical attack from other chickens.
It’s always a good idea to practice solid parasite prevention with your chickens and any other pets or livestock, and it’s never too late to start. But if you do get a parasite infestation in your coop, it’s vital you take action right away.
Get to know the signs of mite infestations or the symptoms of a lice infestation so you can quickly take action if there’s a problem.
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If your birds develop ragged looking feathers, and you notice persistent squabbling among your chickens, then check the ones with white feathers for more serious injuries. If the feathers get damaged, they’ll often turn white before they call out. Stress from constant bullying can also lead to patchy white chickens and feather loss. It may be necessary to remove the bully for the sake of your other hens.
Old Age
Older chickens can turn pale or develop white patches, alongside reduced egg production. While making sure your chicken’s diet is nutritious and well-balanced is the key to health and longevity, age eventually wins, no matter what you do.
Additionally, older chickens don’t recover as quickly from the molting process, so takes longer to shed old feathers and regrow new ones, meaning they look pale or white for a few weeks longer than younger birds.
Unbalanced Diet
Even free range chickens need some help to balance their diets for optimal health and egg laying. If your chickens lack essential vitamins and nutrients, specifically phosphorus and sodium and essential fatty or amino acids are prone to having their colored feathers turning white. You may also notice pale combs and lost feathers.
If salt is the missing ingredient, your chickens will attempt to fill the nutritional gap by using the oil in their preen gland, which can cause white tails and eventually lead to your birds turning white all over.
Give your chickens plenty of high-quality, well-balanced feed, give extra protein during molts or times of stress, give them plenty of access to forage, and be ready to provide supplements if you’re still struggling to achieve balance.
Vitiligo In Chickens
You’ve heard of vitiligo in humans, but did you know chickens can suffer from it, too? It’s an autoimmune condition that causes random areas of depigmentation, or loss of pigment. And there’s not too much you can do about it. Your birds might just have a handful of feathers with white edges, or they might turn almost completely white.
Light therapy may be of use in the early stages of the condition, but you may just have to get used to the idea of having a white chicken that loses its natural feather color.
Leucism
Leucism is an interesting genetic mutation that occurs in chickens and presents as a slow loss of pigment. While chickens might not turn totally white, some will get white patches, as with vitiligo, and others will just look pale.
This condition is commonly confused with albinism, but the two are not related. Chickens with leucism may have patches of feathers that are a white color, or it may be just their particular patterns of feather coloration turn pale.
Albinism in Chickens
Albinism in chickens rare but results in all-white or very pale chickens, with pale combs, plumage, feet, and legs. This is another genetic mutation, so you shouldn’t let albino chickens breed.
There’s nothing you can do to cure albinism, as the lack of melanin is genetic. You may also notice that albino chickens have a pink cast to their eyes.
FAQs
Signs of mite infestation in chickens include:
- Dirty vent feathers
- Scabs near the vent
- Eggs of feathers and shafts
- Listlessness and reduced activity
- Pale comb and wattle
- Decrease in egg production
- Appetite changes (decrease)
- Weight loss
- Bald spots
- Redness, blood spots, and scabs
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Chickens usually molt in fall. molting is a reaction to seasonal changes and, in chickens, it’s triggered by the shorter days. With chickens and other poultry, their bodies know that, to survive the winter, they need the best quality feathers possible. So, they shed the old ones and produce new, healthy feathers ready for the coming winter.
If your chickens are molting or are trying to regrow feathers for any other reason, temporarily increasing the protein in their diet is the best way to help. Choose a high-protein food like a game bird food with 2o to 22 percent protein for the regrowth period, then go back to your regular balanced food.
DO NOT put a molting chicken in a sweater. It’s cruel and causes pain and discomfort to your birds.
Molting chickens look ragged and tatty. They have missing feathers, they’ll be patchy, may look pale, and, if it’s a hard molt, your chicken might look like she’s been partially plucked! Molting is not pretty. It’s tough on the birds, and they look pretty sad and sorry for themselves during the process. You may even see some birds looking half bald, with big, bare patches. And you’ll also notice decreased activity and fewer eggs, as your chickens need all their energy for feather growth.
Some of the best sources of protein for a chicken are:
- Dried mealworms
- Dried soldier fly larvae
- Dried (or live) insects
- Seeds
- Bean sprouts
- Worms
- Eggs
- Parsley
- Peas
- Freshly cooked meat (not other birds!)
- Freshly cooked fish