Bald chicken butt

[irlybird]

We were on holidays last week (had friend look after chickens) and have been home 4 days now. I’ve been out to the coop lots and just noticed one of my leghorns is bald around her butt. The skin isn’t broken. Is this molt?no other feather issues.

We have 15 hens and no others seem to have any coat issues. (One has poop stuck to her bum hairs every so often but once we clean her up she seems fine).

We’ve been getting an average of 10 eggs a day so production is good.

Please tell me it’s not lice or mites! And whatever it is - what do I need to do.

 

[Oncoming Storm]

Is the naked skin red or inflamed? She might have gotten nipped at. I’ve come out to find my more feistier roos with no tail feathers and a broken ego. Do you have any predators in your area?

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is a similar thread dealing with the same possible problem:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/can-anyone-help-me-with-this.1349723/

 

[irlybird]

Is the naked skin red or inflamed? She might have gotten nipped at. I’ve come out to find my more feistier roos with no tail feathers and a broken ego. Do you have any predators in your area?

The naked skin did not look red or inflamed. Looked like chicken skin in the grocery store (may be little pinker but healthy not sore)

They are in an enclosed coop/run.

I will check out the other thread.

 

[Friendly_Lurker]

That can happen if she’s spending a lot of time sitting on the ground. It’s what happens to meat birds. Is she overweight or does she have a leg or foot problem?

 

[irlybird]

Seems happy as can be. No difference this morning when I went out but did notice 2 more girls with some neck feathers missing. I’m wondering if some are going through a molt? They are 10 months old and laying great all through the winter so far. None look injured.

Should I be checking for mites or lice or is this not symptoms. I just want to make sure I’m not missing anything.

 

[irlybird]

Wanted to send a quick update. I think the weather had them a bit confused and they started moulting. A few more bums had some missing feathers but they all do have very fluffy new feathers coming back in. (And that’s fluffy consistency of new growth) While not as quick as they are loosing - the new growth is apparent. The worst is still the one I pictured above. Some of them you can only notice with close inspection. I’m guessing being a white leghorn those bare skin moments are hard to fondness.

Still getting 10-13 eggs a day from 15 birds so I’d say they aren’t in any distress.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would spend some time with them at roost time and other times during the day to see if they are pecking each other out of boredom, overcrowding, or a lack of protein in the diet. There should be a bunch of feathers inside the coop and where they hang out if they were molting. Hens stop laying when they molt.

 

[irlybird]

I would spend some time with them at roost time and other times during the day to see if they are pecking each other out of boredom, overcrowding, or a lack of protein in the diet. There should be a bunch of feathers inside the coop and where they hang out if they were molting. Hens stop laying when they molt.

So it's been a month since I first posted. In that time I noticed a half dozen more chickens have small areas (only if I'm pulling feathers back or inspecting) or no feathers on rear. A few have a light scab in the area (kinda like how road rash on humans heals).

We are getting 12-13 eggs a day out of 15 chickens. They are all very happy. No other sign of disease etc. Daily when I'm with them they all seem happy and I don't see any mean behaviors.

I have come to the assumption one or a few must be pecking feathers. Not sure where the feathers go as I don't see an abundance lying around but it also appears most bare spots have the odd feather growing in which makes me hope it hasn't continued. The weather has been nicer and they are enjoying the sunshine and their dust baths daily so I'm hoping to see improvements.

Still no sign of mites or lice. I check a couple chickens daily (pull back feathers etc).

Do chickens resort to feather plucking in the dark days of winter?

 

[irlybird]

I also just re read the other thread linked above. We have two large windows in our coop. I am wondering if they are getting to much light and when some chickens are on the roost others are pecking feathers away. Starting to make sense. Perhaps I should board up the one side of the window that does not provide fresh air. You can see in my picture above that the window goes almost the length of the roost.