Americauna losing beard

[Jessd0911]

A couple of my 8 month americaunas are losing their beards. How do I determine if this is normal or if they have mites?

 

[sourland]

It is likely that flock mates are overgrooming/feather plucking them.

 

[WingItRanch]

Always good to keep an eye out for mites. Take a flashlight at night and shine on underside of roost. They're very tiny and move fast. You can also take a paper town and wipe under and see if you get any mites.

I personally think this is grooming by other flock mates. Pretty common in bearded chickens because they sometimes get food stuck in their fluff and the others "help them out."

 

[ella2025]

The exact same thing happened to my bearded ameraucana roo Moony. He doesn't have mites but you need to check for them on your chickens to make sure. I agree with others that this is very very likely caused by feather grooming/plucking and it will keep happening to your bearded girls. The moment the beards try to grow back they will get mowed down again. You can try to check the chickens when they're roosting to find culprits of over grooming, but it's not really their fault to be honest, and most likely multiple chickens if not your whole flock are doing it.