Bald Red Butts

[lilredCC]

Can anyone help me???I have 8 hens 4 Rhode Island Reds and 4 Plymouth Barred rocks.They all are missing feathers on their butts and base of tails on some.I keep a very clean coop,they free range supervised every day when I'm home and get lots of treats other than their regular feed.I even added an extra roost in their house thinking over crowding may be the problem.I feel terrible because I work so hard to take good care of them and they look horrible! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[jomoncon]

I have no answer for you, but some of my 8 RIRs have the same problem. Not as bad as yours. Mine are bald just under the tail & vent to the underbelly. I was about to post pictures of mine & ask the same question. It started with 1 hen & now about 4 have the problem. I've examined them for mites/lice & can find nothing.

 

[lilredCC]

I couldnt find mites either.I have an appointment at the vet Monday for this one in the picture (she's the worst) they will look at her feathers under the microscope to ckeck for mites and I'm having them send in a stool sample to check for worms, I'll keep you posted.Hopefully this is not just a behavioral problem, that may be tough to cure

 

[jomoncon]

lilredCC, Did you have a chance to take you hen to the vet for the feather exam? What were the results?

My DH & I did a full coop & run cleaning yesterday - took everything put, scrubbed down everything, dusted with sevin & DE. Also dusted all the girls with seven. Will repeat again in 2 weeks. The coop needed a good cleaning anyway, and I figured the dusting wouldn't hurt even if they don't have mites/lice. I should know in a couple of weeks if the feathers are coming back in. If not, I may have to take a trip to the vet also.

 

[Queen of the chickens]

Mine too! The rooster is the worst. I know what you mean. I feel so bad. Mine look awful. We can cleaned and dusted and dusted and cleaned. I have put aprons on and checked them and I see anything. We had some lice back in the fall, but I thought we had it taken care of.

 

[devora]

A few of mine have this on the back only, down by the tail, but not under the tail as well (like yer photo).

While I'm almost sure it's from being picked on, I can find no reason for it. Plenty of room, free range all day, etc.

So what the what? I'm stumped.

 

[lilredCC]

Test results are back, no worms, no mites.We are thinking it's behavioral she is probably the lowest one in the pecking order

 

[ChickenAl]

Yup, we have the same problems. They are plucking feathers off of her.

Most of our six hens have some form of plucking damage. The odd part is the one who does the most damage has hardly any feathers missing. I would sit and watch the one pluck out another hens feathers and eat them. I've tried increasing protein, increasing free ranging and giving them toys. None of it seemed to help. This began about three months ago and I haven't found a solution yet. They were about 10 months old at the time.

 

[ChickenAl]

Lilred, I also increased the amount of roosts and they all snuggle in on the new higher and longer one. I believe the do a lot of the plucking up on the roost when they are head to butt up there.

 

[Den in Penn]

Feather plucking can be come habit, a bad habit. The one who looks the best is usually the worst offender. After all why should she pluck her own when there are others feathers to pluck and eat. They are usually a high ranking bird, so shaking up the pecking order may help.