Bald patch on the neck

[chickalata]

Hi I'm a newbie who's had 2 laying hens for 5 months now. They live in a chicken tractor and we let them out every day for an hour to play in the morning plus 2 hours in the evening and on the weekends they are out all day. They seem to be best buddies and do everything together which is great but in the last week I have noticed one of them has a bald patch on her neck the size of a coin and it appears to be getting bigger.

I have never seen the other one peck her though she is the dominant one and at night time almost sits on my poor bald chook - she even started to sleep in the nesting box! During the day there are no behaviour problems and they still stick together. What could be the cause of this? We have seperated the sleeping perch with a divider and they seem to be sleeping seperately but I think the bald patch is getting bigger. Do we need to make one perch higher than the other? Is it moulting (it's the start of summer here) or are they bored?

Any advice would be great as I have to leave them in the coop this weekend (we are going away) and would hate for anything else to happen.

Thanks for any help

 

[Cuban Longtails]

I'd say they were bored and the dominate one is picking on the lesser one for fun. You can try feeding them extra protein (via catfood or an alternative) or putting something fun in their tractor (like hang a head of cabbage or broccoli) to keep them occupied while they're locked in during the day.

 

[picklespickles]

i am not familiar with chicken tractors so i don't know if this is practical or not. probably, but just on a smaller scale, i would imagine. i put a pile of sticks and branches that the chickens love to hide in. it's a good place for them to hang out and also since they can scramble inside the holes in the pile then a good safety place. was thinking that might help in 2 ways. something different to reduce bordeom and then somehwere to hide if it doesn't help.

people say sunflower seeds can help regrow feathers more quickly. i think it may make a difference, too.