Bald patch on back of just One of my chickens

[roadkinggirl63]

One of my girls has a bald spot from an couple inches behind her neck to the base of her tail, and from and inch or so above the leg across the back to about an inch above the other leg. Her back is the color of a salmon that has been sunburned. She has had this since September, the feathers look like they are going to grow back in, but the never do. I sprayed Verteracyn on her for a few weeks with no results. My friend who had raised chickens before that the other chickens had pecked her feathers off. I have watched them and have never noticed this happening. She is the only one out of 13 that has this issue.I clean the coop every week and power wash the roost bi-weekly. I have never seen any types of bugs anywhere. The girls will be 1 yr old the last week of April.

Please help my Izzie.
Thank You

 

[chicklover 1998]

Do you have a roo?

 

[roadkinggirl63]

No Rooster. I used to live in Oskaloosa. From Bussey originally.

 

[Puddin Fluff]

It does sound like she is on the bottom of the pecking order and your others have decided to feather pick her. They can be sneaky, even doing it on the roost at night. Get her a saddle and in the time being, smear her with Vicks salve. She will be a sticky mess but generally birds don't like the taste and if you are consistent, and it is a feather picking issue, that might sop it. Also increase the protein in their feed, they could be needing more, pin feathers have a lot of blood in them so they may be hungry and she is passive enough to let them munch.

 

[roadkinggirl63]

I just found another one of my girls is also losing her feathers on her back like Izzie has. This gal has some areas that look like sores. She is also losing feathers on her legs. I have 13 chickens, and keep a pretty watchful eye on them. However I have been so busy that my husband has been letting them out in the morning and putting them in at night for the last few days. This seems to have happened very quickly, so I want to get this under control. Will get the Vicks out for Izzie. What would you suggest for a higher protein? They are on layer pellets now.

 

[Puddin Fluff]

Check with your feed store. There is a product/feed called Feather Fixer. We don't have it here, I use Game Bird Grower and it is a bit more expensive than Layer.

If you have it going on with more than one,, give them a good looking over to see if they have anything else going on. There are some parasites, and disorders that cause feather loss. You can do a search for them on this site.

 

[roadkinggirl63]

Has anyone ever fed the Alfalfa Cubes designed for horses??? I thought that would give them some "green" also. They love Romaine lettuce, but don't like Iceberg, so when I take the outside leaves off of my Romaine, it goes to the Chickie Babies container, which also contains apples, inside of squash, whatever veggies we are eating. They absolutely love green beans and tomatoes.

 

[Puddin Fluff]

I have not fed alfalfa cubes. Alfalfa its self is good. Just be careful with too much people scraps as those fruits and veggies are good, but they lack the protein.

 

[lynordb]

I have 2 out of 9 white leg horns with bald backs, I did have some aggressive roosters but got rid of them, and Foghorn the rooster don't have to be rough because they just squat for him, but it's only 2 hens.They have not molten yet in the 2 years I've had them, why won't their feathers grow back?