Help!! Flock missing belly feathers, not molting or broody

[ldirk7]

4 of my 5 hens are missing belly feathers.
3 of the hens have neck feathers missing, but in a specific area due to what I believe is a chronic feather picker. The ones that are missing feathers on the neck spot have been like that for a few months now.
The belly skin on the 4 that have missing feathers on the belly is not irritated at all, the skin looks healthy if not a touch dry.
None of my hens are broody- incidentally, the one that has gone broody once before is the only hen that has the belly feathers.
No signs of molting aside from the missing neck feathers in a spot of a few of them, but that really appears to be one of them plucking.
I’m not seeing signs of mites or bugs, and the feathers all around the vent area are nice and fluffy for most of the girls (all except my sick hen detailed in the other thread linked below).
The hens are not acting sick or lethargic (aside from the one sick one). Very normal and happy, laying eggs at their normal rate.

Hens are 1 year, 2.5 months old. Fed naturewise all flock crumble with oyster shell on the side and egg shells on the side. They get treats of blueberries and banana and greens every few days, and then they get a small handful mealworms maybe once a week. Flock does not free range.

I have one sick hen detailed in this thread that is sharing the missing belly feathers symptom:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ssing-not-eating.1537487/page-4#post-25967150

Photos of bellies:

Sick hen:

And some photos of necks:

Her feathers were wet here and I believe got coated in dirt:

Any ideas??? Also wondering if this is connected to my sick hen (please read that thread to hear her symptoms, she was dusted for mites and saw no change)? Thank you!

 

[ldirk7]

@Wyorp Rock tagging you again, especially since you are familiar with Ginny and her symptoms. I was just spending time with my chickens and noticed the belly feathers on more chickens.

 

[ldirk7]

Bumping this thread

 

[ldirk7]

@azygous tagging people who might be able to help! Thank you!

 

[TwistedTayy]

Could just be that you have a feather picker maybe. Or perhaps they’re planning on going broody… but usually one would start and the rest would follow

 

[TwistedTayy]

Check this thread…

 

[azygous]

Are any of these feather challenged lovely ladies doing a muted clucking and puffing out their feathers in an angry display when you try to touch them?

I have a hen currently that looks like she's been shaved perfectly clean on her entire belly. This young lady has been taking a trial run at going broody for at least two full months now without going broody all the way, meaning she never stopped laying eggs and started sitting a nest, but broody with all the other symptoms - irritability, hogging a nest for a couple hours every day, and walking around clucking under her breath and annoying the rest of the flock. She finally seems to be snapping out of it, thankfully.

Annual molt can begin before the end of summer in many cases. There are signs my two roosters, both mature gentlemen, are beginning molt. Molt can be triggered by the least little shortening of daylight, which we are now undergoing.

Has it been extremely hot where you are? It may have caused the feather loss if the heat wave has been sustained over a long period. Chickens can shed a lot of excess heat through their bellies as the blood vessels in the area are close to the surface.

 

[ldirk7]

@azygous interesting… so:

First off, thank you for your reply.

I have two that definitely fall into the wannabe broody category- my light Brahma and my houdan. The houdan has been showing signs for awhile and went broody for about a week one month ago but snapped out of it quickly and never went FULL crazy broody. It was like she wanted to go broody but just kinda sucked at it lol. The light Brahma shows some of the signs you mentioned but has yet to go broody and hang out on the nest s lot. The houdan is my one hen with her belly feathers still, the Brahma is one that is losing feathers. I would say the other 3 do not show any of the signs you mentioned.

Molt is a possibility. I just had read that it would start at the neck and face, not the belly.

And yes it has been hot, though not even close to other areas in the US (I am in southwest Montana, at elevation). We have been consistently above 85 for several weeks, with many days 90-95 range. We cool down a ton at night, our low last night was 45.

Can a few wannabe broody hens cause other hens to also show broody behavior?

 

[azygous]

Can a few wannabe broody hens cause other hens to also show broody behavior?

While others here have reported broody contagion in their flocks, I've never witnessed it in my flock. We do know that broody behavior has a strong genetic component, and that is definitely something I've observed in my flock. I've never had Silkies, that breed being notorious for going broody, but my Golden-laced Wyandottes have been uniformly intense broody fiends.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

4 of my 5 hens are missing belly feathers.
3 of the hens have neck feathers missing, but in a specific area due to what I believe is a chronic feather picker. The ones that are missing feathers on the neck spot have been like that for a few months now.
The belly skin on the 4 that have missing feathers on the belly is not irritated at all, the skin looks healthy if not a touch dry.

The hens are not acting sick or lethargic (aside from the one sick one). Very normal and happy, laying eggs at their normal rate.

The skin looks nice and smooth, no irritation.
I've seen bare feathers spots like this in my own flock. Usually in summer. Not sure if it's broodiness (none of my layers have ever gone full broody but still have those bare patches), if they are plucking out feathers to keep a bit cooler or if the feathers are just worn/rubbed off during the process of roosting/dust bathing/getting into nesting boxes throughout the year.

Missing feathers on the neck is often a plucker neighbor during roosting time, but it'd be worth monitoring the crop of that one just to make sure she's not plucking at those feathers due to sour crop.

Happy, acting normal, laying eggs. Sounds like they are doing o.k. to me