Feathers missing from back of head?

[mmktdox]

I've got six BR hens and one rooster all housed in a 8 x 6 coop for the winter with access to a 8 x 8 fenced & covered run. They've wintered fairly well with one exception. Two of the hens have missing feathers on the back of their heads. Both are bald back there and one is pink but not bloody from pecking. My question is; is my rooster pulling out the feathers when he mounts the hens or is it the other hens being bullies? I watched them yesterday for 45 minutes or so and the rooster was not in any way aggressive but the other hens picked on the two with the feather damage. Are they feeling cooped up? I feed them laying mash from the local feed store, not scratch and they get lots of extra protein from kitchen scraps. I'm concerned someone is going to draw blood and things will get messy!

 

[Clucksworth]

I've got six BR hens and one rooster all housed in a 8 x 6 coop for the winter with access to a 8 x 8 fenced & covered run. They've wintered fairly well with one exception. Two of the hens have missing feathers on the back of their heads. Both are bald back there and one is pink but not bloody from pecking. My question is; is my rooster pulling out the feathers when he mounts the hens or is it the other hens being bullies? I watched them yesterday for 45 minutes or so and the rooster was not in any way aggressive but the other hens picked on the two with the feather damage. Are they feeling cooped up? I feed them laying mash from the local feed store, not scratch and they get lots of extra protein from kitchen scraps. I'm concerned someone is going to draw blood and things will get messy!

The baldness on the backs of your chicken's heads is caused by your cockerel mounting them alot, however the other hens may also inflict damage on your hens because they have balder heads than themselves( as thats the kind of nasty things chickens like to do to each other, especially if these chickens are low in the pecking order)

I would say that what you're feeding your chickens is absolutely fine, I feed my chickens layers mash too and kitchen scraps. That diet won't have this effect on your chickens.
The chicken's probably won't get any worse than they are right now, they're just unfortunate enough to be your cockerel's favorites >.< I wouldn't worry about them, but if you think it is getting worse and the other hens are picking on them you can remove them for a while so their feathers have time to grow back... bear in mind that the head feathers do take a long time to come through.

Hope this helped

 

[LoveHuevos]

Some of my hens are going through the same thing, but I don't have a rooster. I have 13 hens and about three of them are going bald and one is completely bald. Pecking order would be the only reason? Is there anything else that I can do, other than removing the bald hens? I'd have to somehow block off part of the coop to keep them separated.

 

[Clucksworth]

Some of my hens are going through the same thing, but I don't have a rooster. I have 13 hens and about three of them are going bald and one is completely bald. Pecking order would be the only reason? Is there anything else that I can do, other than removing the bald hens? I'd have to somehow block off part of the coop to keep them separated.

Chickens often peck other chickens on the head whilst they're feeding. To reduce the pecking going on during meal times you can make multiple feeding stations for your hens so they don't have to fight over the food