Bald spot

[Katy L]

Hi! I am a newbie and trying to solve this bald spot mystery. We have 12 hens that are about 6 months old. They all just started laying over the last 3 weeks and are doing awesome. One of my girls has this bald spot on her back that we can’t figure out and I am hoping someone on here knows what it’s from. We do not have a rooster. We do have a neighbor with one but there is no way he has gotten to her. We are just starting the free range process and we only do it under a watchful eye. The spot on her is growing so I am concerned. I was worried about parasites or pests but I can’t see any on her nor have I seen anything at night but I could be missing it? I am mostly thinking it’s due to the size of the coop. When we bought our chicks the guy told us 30% would die and to buy more than we wanted to end up with. So we bought 12 thinking we’d land at 9. However they all did great and are alive and kicking. We’re almost done building the new coop for them since the old one was rated for 8 hens. I am assuming this is from pecking but I’ve never seen her get pecked! Im totally confused. I am seeing another girl starting to get odd rear feathers too. Picture a of both. Also, I notice that these girls never make it to the roost and get stuck in the actual small part of the coop. I’m thinking a pecking order situation. We had a rough start with the bad info and the size of the coop vs the size of the flock. Pictures for help! The new coop should be done today.

 

[azygous]

It appears to be from feather picking, a compulsive behavior not necessarily associated with the pecking order. You need to spend some time observing the flock to see who is targeting these hens. A lot of people will mistakenly advise to increase the protein you feed the flock, but it's been my experience that diet is hardly ever the cause.

Instead, some hens are brain wired to compulsively pluck feathers from their mates. Pinless peepers may help. Sometimes discipline with a poke on the back when you see a chicken liberating feathers can at least temporarily halt the behavior. Removal from the flock is the best way to deal with a feather picker.