Bare butt chickens, not sure why

[Lynnhill]

Hi, I have 17 chickens, six comets and eleven buff Orpington’s (one of which is a lovely rooster) but several of the buffs have backs denuded of feathers as well as four with denuded rearends. Figured back was happening from Rooster mating but not actually sure that is what is going on. The rear ends? One comet has denuded rear end. Everybody else looks great. Any thoughts, suggestions.
Thank you Laura at lynnhillfarm

 

[DobieLover]

Hello, Laura, and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
The rooster is likely the guilty party to explain the bare backs. How old is he?
The missing fluff could be do to feather picking.
How much space does your flock have?
What exactly are you feeding them?

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

Welcome to BYC!
The backs are caused by the rooster and the bottoms most likely feather plucking from flock members.....If the skin is raw, I would recommend putting PLAIN neosporin on the area. If you want to avoid feather loss due to rooster activity, I would recommend buying saddle pads or aprons. I use them on 2 of my rooster's favorite ladies!

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC.

 

[Lynnhill]

Thank you for your quick reply! Crazy here with farm stuff and planting. Would the girls wear the aprons all the time or do you take off like at night? Would Wonder Dust work on rearends?

 

[DobieLover]

Thank you for your quick reply! Crazy here with farm stuff and planting. Would the girls wear the aprons all the time or do you take off like at night? Would Wonder Dust work on rearends?

The aprons stay on. It's not easy to get them on or off. But you need to check them periodically to make sure they aren't too tight and rubbing at the feathers around the wings.
What are you feeding the flock and how much space do they have? There is a reason for the feather picking and it's best to address the cause vs. just put a Band-Aid on the problem.

 

[DucksAreBest]

Hello, welcome to BackYard Chickens! Thank you for joining our community.

 

[Lynnhill]

The aprons stay on. It's not easy to get them on or off. But you need to check them periodically to make sure they aren't too tight and rubbing at the feathers around the wings.
What are you feeding the flock and how much space do they have? There is a reason for the feather picking and it's best to address the cause vs. just put a Band-Aid on the problem.

 

[Lynnhill]

The aprons stay on. It's not easy to get them on or off. But you need to check them periodically to make sure they aren't too tight and rubbing at the feathers around the wings.
What are you feeding the flock and how much space do they have? There is a reason for the feather picking and it's best to address the cause vs. just put a Band-Aid on the problem.

 

[Lynnhill]

Feeding organic layer pellets, they get organic scratch in chicken run daily and Brumblies meal worms couple times a week. Chicken house is 8x16 with lots of roosts. Outside chicken run 16x 32 ft with logs and stumps. I think plenty of room. I never see anybody picking on anyone else so assuming happening at night but again lots of roost space. Agree need to find cause.