Birds missing feathers and skin is scabbed over. Please help!

[ChickAsThieves]

We have 9 hens in our flock. All of them are laying well other than our bantam game hen who has just gone through a molt. We are using a light in the coop to keep them laying through the winter. We have noticed that about half our birds have some feather loss on their lower backs, some worse than others. At first it was just missing feathers, but now it is starting to look scabby. We put Blu-Kote on all of them after we took the photo. Can anyone identify what is going on here? Do we have mites? Is this due to the birds attacking one another? Thanks in advance.

 

[Ozarkhomesteader]

do you have a rooster? If all your girls are all missing feathers, the boy may be over mating them.

 

[ChickAsThieves]

No, we only have hens.

 

[hennypenny2014]

Hi
Did you ever find out what was causing your hens problem? I'm having what seems to be the same problem as you and haven't found an answer yet. It looked like a scrape wound about 1 inch long 1/2 inch wide and a little bloody. I have been cleaning it with betadine, vetercyn & neosporin. I was going to get the blue mote spray but forgot it when I was at the store.

 

[ChickAsThieves]

Nope, I just posted this yesterday. Still hoping for help!

 

[Eggcessive]

Have you looked for mites on your chickens? That is a place where feather loss may occur with a rooster or from hens picking feathers. There also could be skin condition, such as cutaneous Marks disease. Fowl pox can affect different part of the bodies, but that is unlikely a cause in winter in Massachusetts, since it is spread by mosquitoes. A closer picture might help us to see the skin lesion better.