bald bottom Frizzle Bantam (warning - picture of gross butt LOL)

[Dhkoenig]

Hi All - I have a frizzle bantam who is about a year old. She is a funny little sassy lassy but she has the ugliest bald bottom! She is healthy - no mites - and tho the other hens don't love her (she is the bottom of the pecking order) they don't terrorize her. The worst they do is chase her away from a treat and I have seen her get pecked but not on her butt. There is no evidence of it being bullying because it is just her bottom and nowhere else and it is not red or cut. Any clues? (those are pine shavings on the bottom of her butt because she just laid)

 

[Eggcessive]

What breeds are the others? How much room do they have in the coop and run? Are they all getting outside to free range during the daytime? The other birds are feather and vent pecking her. This can lead to vent damage and cannibalism if not stopped. If only one other bird is feather picking hoper, you can get some pinless peepers with a pair of applicators online. That affects their aim, but they can eat and drink normally. Make sure they are getting enough protein in their diet. If they need more room, increase it. Free ranging and having some spots to get away from bullies can help. Using BluKote, a dye and messy staining purple spray can hide the red bare skin, and may be helpful. Separating her inside a wire dog crate with her own food/water sometimes may be necessary

 

[ddmcb]

I bought a year old buff frizzle that came to me with a bare bum. She also lost some feathers on her head from being picked on when we first got her, but she is pulling out of it. The woman I got her from said that she was losing bum feathers from being broody for so long. I tend to think she was getting mounted by a rooster. Either way, I have increased her protein, made sure the bullying stopped, and she is growing back a beauty fluffy bum back now. Could it be from molting maybe? I am new to chickens but I know they molt every year after they are a year old also.

 

[Dhkoenig]

What breeds are the others? How much room do they have in the coop and run? Are they all getting outside to free range during the daytime? The other birds are feather and vent pecking her. This can lead to vent damage and cannibalism if not stopped. If only one other bird is feather picking hoper, you can get some pinless peepers with a pair of applicators online. That affects their aim, but they can eat and drink normally. Make sure they are getting enough protein in their diet. If they need more room, increase it. Free ranging and having some spots to get away from bullies can help. Using BluKote, a dye and messy staining purple spray can hide the red bare skin, and may be helpful. Separating her inside a wire dog crate with her own food/water sometimes may be necessary

They have a huge amount of space (two connected runs - 16x10 and 12x12 and I have twelve hens (three of them are bantams) and I do free range them once a day until the winter, so I don't think it is close quarters, and so weird because I have seen them peck her sometimes but only when she goes for their mealworms or something and I have cameras so I would see bullying - that is why I am wondering if it is something else. No mites there tho

 

[Dhkoenig]

What breeds are the others? How much room do they have in the coop and run? Are they all getting outside to free range during the daytime? The other birds are feather and vent pecking her. This can lead to vent damage and cannibalism if not stopped. If only one other bird is feather picking hoper, you can get some pinless peepers with a pair of applicators online. That affects their aim, but they can eat and drink normally. Make sure they are getting enough protein in their diet. If they need more room, increase it. Free ranging and having some spots to get away from bullies can help. Using BluKote, a dye and messy staining purple spray can hide the red bare skin, and may be helpful. Separating her inside a wire dog crate with her own food/water sometimes may be necessary

oops sorry I forgot to answer the first question:
Two Buff Orpingtons
One Brown Leghorn (all of those are old ladies)
a Black copper maran, a speckeld sussex, a dark brahma, an olive egger, an olive egger bantam, a cream legbar, a cookies-n-cream bantam, a sapphire jewel and her (bantam frizzle)

 

[Yardmom]

Yes this could be molting. Watch to see if other feathers start dropping and you should see new feathers coming in. If you don't see new feathers soon continue to look for other causes.

 

[Dhkoenig]

Yes this could be molting. Watch to see if other feathers start dropping and you should see new feathers coming in. If you don't see new feathers soon continue to look for other causes.

Nope no new feathers coming in - bald as a cue ball