Bare area on hen’s back

[FunkeMama]

Hello! I have an 8.5 month old Auracana hen with a bare patch on her back. We have 5 hens and 1 rooster (wanted 6 hens but TSC messed up). None of the other birds have bare spots. I haven’t seen any blood. I’ve been using Vetetricyn Plus Poultry care spray. The golden laced Wyandotte hen has been pecking at her back. Should I take her to a vet? Any suggestions for how to help her heal are appreciated!!

 

[nuthatched]

She's likely your roosters favorite, nothing to worry about but you might want to consider a hen saddle.

 

[Firsttimehens1234]

Hello! I have an 8.5 month old Auracana hen with a bare patch on her back. We have 5 hens and 1 rooster (wanted 6 hens but TSC messed up). None of the other birds have bare spots. I haven’t seen any blood. I’ve been using Vetetricyn Plus Poultry care spray. The golden laced Wyandotte hen has been pecking at her back. Should I take her to a vet? Any suggestions for how to help her heal are appreciated!!

Is there Any blood on the hen? How old are the other hens? Sometimes hens peck other out of boredom or they need a little extra protein, the most important thing is to make sure there is no blood at all, as soon as the chicken taste blood they might not stop pecking until it’s a pretty big wound.
I would suggest to first see if you can catch them in the act,try and feed some protein rich snacks and try and make some activities for the hens
Edit or as the other person suggests is that the rooster just likes her the best

 

[BarnyardChaos]

The Vetericyn spray is good and will prevent infection, but it won't stop whatever's causing the problem. You likely do NOT need a vet for this, as it's a very common issue in backyard flocks and easily corrected. Two issues you need to address: Eliminating what's causing it in the first place, and treating her wound so she gets her beautiful feather coat back.

1. Most common: Is your rooster getting his jollies too often with his favorite hen, or not enough girls to keep him happy? Roosters often have a few favorites in the flock and they will mate so often they damage the skin on the hens' backs. I've even seen skin torn completely open to the backbone. If he's being too aggressive to the point he makes her bleed, he needs to go bye-bye. You can address this by adding a few more hens to the flock (6-8 hens per rooster is minimum), removing the rooster temporarily from time to time to give the girls a break, or - last resort - put a chicken saddle on her, like this:

2. Does she have mites or lice? Or is the coop filthy? (Sorry, yours likely is NOT, but I had to put that possibility in there for others who might be reading this.) Chickens can sometimes preen themselves so much from irritation that they cause feather loss. And then the bare back with new feathers growing in looks like a tasty morsel to other chickens, and they'll peck at it even to the point of drawing blood. If that happens, she's in dire straits and you need to act quickly. Chickens are attracted to blood and will mercilessly peck at it causing more severe injuries and even death. If the coop's dirty, there are likely mites or lice, too. Clean it, then get some permethrin and treat the birds and coop. Here is one article on the topic:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-fleas-dealing-with-external-parasites.74599/

3. Are the other hens simply bullying her to no end? They can pick on each other when they're bored or stressed. Expand their space or give them more free-range time, give them some boredom-breakers in the form of shiny and colorful toys they can peck at instead of each other, hang a head of lettuce or cabbage in a net or from a string, add obstructions of various types in the run so she can get out of the line-of-sight of a bully, or an over-zealous rooster.

Finally, while the Vetericyn is a good healing solution, she would benefit from a good spray with Blu-Kote or something similar. It also has antibacterial properties, but also paints her skin a bright BLUE, which the other chickens will not bother to peck at. It's not appetizing-looking to them at all. I give a squirt of this anytime blood is drawn, or looks like it's about to be.

Let us know how it turns out! We love updates