Bare Butts???

[Slinkee]

I just cleaned the coop Sunday and saw no signs of any issues with the coop, run or birds. Today when I let them out I found my Buff, three Rhode Island Reds and an Easter Egger with bare...ummm....underbutts? I know we have a pecker in the flock because two of my EE's have bare backs but they've never pecked any of the others. Is this possibly a parasite, pecking or what? Sorry for all of the chicken tooshies.

 

[Whittni]

They could be starting to molt. Chickens shed their feathers annually to grow beautiful plumage! Sometimes roosters are the cause of missing feathers but it's the right time of year for chickens to molt, late summer/fall. Good luck!

 

[Slinkee]

They are only 8 months old, I was under the impression that birds wouldn't molt that early? Also, I thought they began molting top to bottom not bottom up? Just going off what I've read.

 

[ten chicks]

They are only 8 months old, I was under the impression that birds wouldn't molt that early? Also, I thought they began molting top to bottom not bottom up? Just going off what I've read.

Check for mites/lice,just to rule them out. Look under wings,around vent area,base of tail feathers.

 

[Slinkee]

We checked two of them and don't see any sign of mites or anything else other than lack of feathers. Our roo and the rest of the hens are still fully feathered. Could it possibly be due the insanely hot few days we've had, do they ever pull feathers to cope with heat?

 

[Cheryl1948]

We just brought our 15 new babies home Monday. Twelve of them are one week old and three are two weeks old. Everyone is happy so far. However, this afternoon I noticed one of little Buffs has lost some hair on her butt and she is pecking at it. I had four chicks that had pasty butt and I cleaned them yesterday with cotton balls, warm water and hydrogen peroxide and then put olive oil on their little butts. I did clean one of the Buffs, but don't know if she was the one or not. I washed her the same way a little while ago and this time put Vitamin E on it. One of you said to check for mites or fleas. These are our first and only chicks in brand new pine bedding. If I suspect mites or fleas is it ok to put DE in their food? New at raising chickens and want to do things right. I love those little cuties already.

 

[Slinkee]

Oooooooor is it possible they've gotten broody? Is this the area they'd be pulling from if they were broody?

 

[Cheryl1948]

Just got advice from a friend to make mine a dust bath with play sand and DE in it.

 

[Chicks Galore3]

Oooooooor is it possible they've gotten broody? Is this the area they'd be pulling from if they were broody?

They would pull from their chest - the bare skin would be even warmer for the eggs and is called a broody patch. My chickens had mites and one hand a bareish rear end - it more looked like her butt fluff where "chewed".

 

[Slinkee]

They would pull from their chest - the bare skin would be even warmer for the eggs and is called a broody patch. My chickens had mites and one hand a bareish rear end - it more looked like her butt fluff where "chewed".

That's what I thought. We DE'd everything last night, hopefully they feel better soon. Poor girls, I feel so bad for them.