Here's my "guess"
Many times, I witnessed a hen just sitting there as one of her flockmates plucked feathers from the neck. So, the actual baldness is made by other chickens. Yet, what is the cause of that behavior?
It's not bullying, since it's seen randomly throughout the pecking order. It could be boredom. For me the neck baldness more frequently happens in early spring. That's when the flock is tired of being cooped up, but they must wait for the trees & bushes to grow some cover before I let them free-range. I have seen it happen a couple times overnight in the summer when the flock free ranges daily. Was that boredom too?
Spring is also a time of increased hormones. Hens pick up egg production and males mate more frequently. Perhaps there's a hormonal link to obsessive grooming. ???
Lastly, spring is prime time for mites. I know a few people in my area who are dealing with massive outbreaks this year. If a hen is itchy from mites or lice, she would gladly allow some plucking to relieve and remove it. In addition to the chickens' sandy dust baths, I manually dust my flock. (They sell various brands of poultry dust at feed stores) It may be helping. I also put some poultry dust in a sock and use it as a powder puff to get around the neck area. As soon as I see the chickens looking "twitchy" - You know, the quick 1 sec headshake - I grab the dusting sock for a touch up.
BTW- My 8.5 yr old EE is still going strong. She even layed 3 eggs this week! At the moment she still has her muffs and beard..... I hope it stays that way!
Many times, I witnessed a hen just sitting there as one of her flockmates plucked feathers from the neck. So, the actual baldness is made by other chickens. Yet, what is the cause of that behavior?
It's not bullying, since it's seen randomly throughout the pecking order. It could be boredom. For me the neck baldness more frequently happens in early spring. That's when the flock is tired of being cooped up, but they must wait for the trees & bushes to grow some cover before I let them free-range. I have seen it happen a couple times overnight in the summer when the flock free ranges daily. Was that boredom too?
Spring is also a time of increased hormones. Hens pick up egg production and males mate more frequently. Perhaps there's a hormonal link to obsessive grooming. ???
Lastly, spring is prime time for mites. I know a few people in my area who are dealing with massive outbreaks this year. If a hen is itchy from mites or lice, she would gladly allow some plucking to relieve and remove it. In addition to the chickens' sandy dust baths, I manually dust my flock. (They sell various brands of poultry dust at feed stores) It may be helping. I also put some poultry dust in a sock and use it as a powder puff to get around the neck area. As soon as I see the chickens looking "twitchy" - You know, the quick 1 sec headshake - I grab the dusting sock for a touch up.
BTW- My 8.5 yr old EE is still going strong. She even layed 3 eggs this week! At the moment she still has her muffs and beard..... I hope it stays that way!
