Bald spots above ears

[Thana Skysor]

Hi,
I was looking at my flock today and I notice that one of my hens (10 months old) has a bald patch above her ears on both sides. She’s the only chicken we’ve seen bald spots on and after watching the flock for a while, no one was pecking at her. The rooster mated with her, and she just laid an egg. I don’t know if that has anything to do with it because none of the other hens are like this. Does anyone know what it could be? Thanks.

 

[azygous]

It could be molt if it's going into fall where you live.

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

It could also be pecked out feathers from the rooster. It looks more like that to me.

 

[Opiumbrella]

Hi,
I was looking at my flock today and I notice that one of my hens (10 months old) has a bald patch above her ears on both sides. She’s the only chicken we’ve seen bald spots on and after watching the flock for a while, no one was pecking at her. The rooster mated with her, and she just laid an egg. I don’t know if that has anything to do with it because none of the other hens are like this. Does anyone know what it could be? Thanks.

I would check for mites, as that can be a sign of excessive scratching at night, due to mites. It can also be due to mating behavior. As hens and Roos both will do little feather pills and pecks in the head as a mating thing, and they can be overzealous sometimes. It can also just be how she looks, we have a hen named buzzy, who is so named because she has bald spots exactly like that, which became more prominent as she grew. Th fact that it is on both sides evenly leads me towards scratching (as mites love to congregate around the eyes and ears) or just natural feathering for her.

Looking closer it appears that she has missing feathers along the back of her head as well, if that is the case then I agree with the comment below about it being from mating.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi,
I was looking at my flock today and I notice that one of my hens (10 months old) has a bald patch above her ears on both sides. She’s the only chicken we’ve seen bald spots on and after watching the flock for a while, no one was pecking at her. The rooster mated with her, and she just laid an egg. I don’t know if that has anything to do with it because none of the other hens are like this. Does anyone know what it could be? Thanks.

Hi there, welcome to BYC!

That pattern is very telling (along with your description) and is *likely* from the rooster mating, where he holds on at..

Maybe he likes her best or maybe her feathers are more brittle regarding why no one else is like that, yet.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The rooster mated with her

Rooster.