Are these chickens moulting?

[Cowgirl71]

Hi, my neighbor has some chickens. And he thinks they're moulting. He has 1 rooster and 17 hens, born 3/09. All of the hens have bright-red bare bottoms and backs. [And they only have about 5-10 tail feathers each, too.] They're also missing a few feathers on their heads. The rest of their feathers look fine. The rooster is missing a few vent feathers, but otherwise looks good. I saw them once after they started looking like this, and then again 3 weeks later, with no change in their feathers. They're still laying real well, at about 13 eggs/day. Now, don't hens stop laying while they're moulting? What do you think? I just don't want to say anything to him if I'm wrong...

 

[PeeperKeeper]

Sounds like their feathers are being worn off by the roo when he mounts them. But usually 10:1 ratio is considered adequate hens for a roo unless he is just about a year old himself and he's rather "frisky" with the girls. I would think the hens would wait until late summer to moult....like at 18 months old.
Check for lice around their vent holes. Look close as poultry lice a very tiny and white.
You can make or buy the hens' "saddles" to keep the roo from destroying their feathers and/or dust their little buts with Sevin dust, clean out their coops and nests and delice the area and throw away all eggs for about 4 or 5 days.
The missing feathers will not grow back in until they go through a natural moult phase.
Yes....It means you'll have barebacked hens all summer.
Get some Blu-Kote and spray their backs to help protect from being pecked or sunburnt.
Good Luck!

 

[Cowgirl71]

Thanks PeeperKeeper! I kinda thought it was lice... With our cattle, the littlest bit of rubbing will make bald patches of skin (so the rooster making their backs bald makes sense). But I don't quite understand why ALL of the hen's vent feathers are gone. Are they pulling them out themselves, while trying to get the lice?

Please note that these are my neighbor's birds, and that he believes they're moulting.

I know too that they're kept in a coop with a pen. The pen is usually damp/mucky, so I doubt that they get to dust bathe much (which is supposed to help lice/mites/etc.). Is it pretty safe to say that these birds are NOT moulting? And that my neighbor's going to need to use a lot of Sevin dust? Will he need to sprinkle it all over the pen, coop, and the nest boxes; in addition to the birds? Thanks for your help...