Black Australorp Feather Loss?

[BjaJra826]

I have a lovely australorp who was recently tagged as a fan favorite of our spring roosters. This lead to them pulling all the feathers off the back of her head yesterday. This is easy enough to fix, I covered her head in blue hen healer and the boys are leaving her alone for now. My concern is her breast. As I was man-handling her, I notice that her breast has large bare spots similar to what you see in cornish cross birds. There are no pin feathers, or even visual feather pores. Jyst smooth skin over her breast with a strip of feathers over her breast bone dividing the bald spot into two. The skin is not red or injured, no mites or bugs... Is this a breed trait? She is the only australorp I have and is definatly the largest bird in my chicken flock. I know they are a dual purpose breed, but I want to make sure I am not doing something wrong.

 

[Wolfefarmyard]

I have a lovely australorp who was recently tagged as a fan favorite of our spring roosters. This lead to them pulling all the feathers off the back of her head yesterday. This is easy enough to fix, I covered her head in blue hen healer and the boys are leaving her alone for now. My concern is her breast. As I was man-handling her, I notice that her breast has large bare spots similar to what you see in cornish cross birds. There are no pin feathers, or even visual feather pores. Jyst smooth skin over her breast with a strip of feathers over her breast bone dividing the bald spot into two. The skin is not red or injured, no mites or bugs... Is this a breed trait? She is the only australorp I have and is definatly the largest bird in my chicken flock. I know they are a dual purpose breed, but I want to make sure I am not doing something wrong.

Is she maybe going broody?

When hens go broody they tend to pull feathers from their breast to keep the eggs warm for incubation.

 

[BjaJra826]

I thought of this but she doesn't sit in the nest box any longer than it takes to lay and recover from laying. That and when you take an egg from her she hisses but doesn't get overly protective.