Balding chickens...weird creepy pictures inside...no idea what it is..

[ChickieNikki]

Ok my best friend's chickens are crazy bald...she has 20, they're about 10 months old, and usually she gets 15-20 eggs a day from them. They've been looking pretty weird lately, and today only 12 eggs...take a look at these chickens and let me know what it might be...there's no blood, just big red bald spots, and they might even be sunburned, I don't know...and what's up with the big bulging bald pouch underneath the vent on a few? Any help or ideas are appreciated...they're not pets, just egg layers, but they are kept in a 20x15 covered run, cooped in a barn at night, and fed lots of kitchen scraps and free access to layena. Here are the creepy pics...

 

[onebuggirl]

Are there roosters in there with them? When ROosters mount the girls they tend to tear out feathers. You can get aprons or bibs made for this. Or if you remove the roos the feathers will grow back.

 

[patyrdz]

I'd say mites! When she treats them, make sure she treats the barn where they sleep too!! WOW!

 

[mtnhomechick]

Looks bad. My guess is mites too. I think if it were a roo the combs would be pecked up too. Combs look good.

 

[ChickieNikki]

Quote:
no roos...that's what stumped me...but there have been pecking issues in the past, but this time there's no blood...i'll read up on mites though...

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

That's what ours looked like around that age, but we have roosters. Checked and dusted for mites but there wasn't any. I still have a few that look like that, but the others have all grown their feathers back and look fine. We did separate the ones that looked like your white ones - the BR girls can be nasty and they are ok now too.

 

[chickenlittle32]

My FIL has some chickens that have no tails and also their heads were pecked pretty badly. (he kept them in a small cage too long bc it "wasn't warm enough"). Nothing has grown back on them either. Did the feathers ever grow back from the pecking problem?

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

Ours did, yes, but it takes a while and we keep them separated from the others (at DBF's). My BO's had the bald backs and under the vent and they've grown back just fine without being separated (we have two separate flocks - DBF's and mine).

 

[Goldie56]

I was just about to post similar photos of my girls. I discovered 3 of my 4 hens have balding patches around their backside area as well. We do not have a rooster and they look the same breed as these. There is no other problem, they seem happy and well. If they had mites wouldn't they be scratching themselves? I will treat for mites and see what happens.