Ameraucana and silkie beards being plucked bald

[ella2025]

Yesterday, while it was rainy and wet, I noticed 2 round bald spots on the sides of my ameraucana roosters beard. For contex he is 26 weeks old. Today he went full bald (still rainy today) and I found my other bearded bird, Cindy the silkie, 25 weeks old, with the exact same round bald spots on her beard. Cindy's been in the rain and wet before, and her feathers have never been plucked. However Moony the rooster is experiencing rain and being wet in my flock for the first time (we got him not that long ago). I'm wondering if the rain could be why somebody in the flock is pecking their feathers like this. How can I stop it? I don't want all my bearded chickens going bald!

 

[cavemanrich]

Find the culprit and trim the beak. That is one easy solution. If you choose that route, I can instruct you as to how,,,,,, safely, and correctly, without harm to the chicken. It can be hen or rooster doing it.
Second possible reason,,, for feather picking,, is, chickens sense shortage of protein in their diet.
Not sure what your feed is. It should be at least 18% protein.
Many entry level feeds offer the barebone minimum of 16% protein.
If you are using low protein feed, consider getting next bag with higher percentage.
In the immediate,, consider supplementing their protein with cat food. No need to overdo it. Trial and error portions are fine.
And third possibility,, Your feed is sufficient protein, but you are offering too much scratch treats. Scratch dilutes the protein percentage in chickens total food intake.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

 

[ella2025]

Find the culprit and trim the beak. That is one easy solution. If you choose that route, I can instruct you as to how,,,,,, safely, and correctly, without harm to the chicken. It can be hen or rooster doing it.
Second possible reason,,, for feather picking,, is, chickens sense shortage of protein in their diet.
Not sure what your feed is. It should be at least 18% protein.
Many entry level feeds offer the barebone minimum of 16% protein.
If you are using low protein feed, consider getting next bag with higher percentage.
In the immediate,, consider supplementing their protein with cat food. No need to overdo it. Trial and error portions are fine.
And third possibility,, Your feed is sufficient protein, but you are offering too much scratch treats. Scratch dilutes the protein percentage in chickens total food intake.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

In the other thread I posted, everyone said that it's because chickens preen eachother's beards and faces and they might get a little too rough and pluck their beards out.

I think that makes sense but it's weird that it's never happened before, and now his beard is gone overnight.

My feed is 20% protein, so I don't think it could be lack of protein that causes this. I do give them a good amount of scratch treats, but i don't do it every day and it's just one scoop for 14 chickens when I do give them scratch.