Bald chicken in the winter?

[Lisa4545]

I have a Rhode Island Red that we adopted after she was attacked by a dog and rode about 20 miles on the undercarriage of a dump truck. In fact she's the reason we have chickens at all. While most of her feathers have grown back in, it looks like shes going to have a 3" bald spot on her upper chest and shoulder. Any ideas what kind of problems this will is going to cause this winter? My daughters friend is actually knitting her a vest, lol. I'm on Long Island, NY.

 

[Embuck]

Do I assume correctly that you have chickens besides her? If so, she should be able to snuggle up to them on the roost.
And, thinking about, people keep naked neck chickens in harsh climates... And there's not a lot of muscle covering arteries and things on the neck.

 

[Molpet]

my 4 molting hens last winter went into a small box on their own, when it got below -10f
they came out onto the roost when it got closer to 0f... 4x4 dog house in the hoop coop.
Sweaters compress the feathers and actually make the bird colder.. they fluff up to retain the heat.

 

[Lisa4545]

Thanks, I old my daughter about no sweaters. I figured she should be able to snuggle with the other chickens now that everyone is getting along with the new chickens.