Are these mites?

[City Gardener]

Three of our five hens have no feathers around their heads. The other two are completely fine.

The afflicted ones are fine on the rest of their bodies. I don't see any mites.

And.. here's the hard part: I've treated them with DE many times, and twice with Ivomec.

Nothing gets better.

Any ideas?

 

[chicmom]

One may be pecking them. What you need to do, is just spend some time watching them quietly........You will see......I had that problem too--my chickens were getting a bare spot just above their tails.....I watched and I saw my New Hampshire Red hen was a really viscious b-word. I got rid of her, and the problem is solved.

If that is the case for you--put some pinless peepers on her and that will deter her from pecking.

Good luck!

Sharon

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

do you have a rooster? if you do these hens are his favorites, its what happens when a rooster is hadrd on his hens. if you do not have a roo, you have a hen that picks

 

[City Gardener]

Wow. I did see our boss-hen harshing out on one of the baldy hens.

No roos.

Shoot, that's not as solveable as mites!

 

[sourland]

One of the two hens with all her feathers is the most likely culprit.

 

[elmo]

Could be molting. I've not seen this with our chickens so far, but one of our doves did a face molt this year. I've also seen a blue jay at our zoo's aviary that went completely bald on its whole head. It was the weirdest looking thing I've ever seen. The zoo keepers confirmed it was just molting.