Chicken pattern baldnes???

[Brigabart]

I'm fairly new at this, so I may be asking the dumbest question ever. Most of my one year old hens have a pattern of baldness on their bellies. Chest, along the keelbone, then a strip of feathers on either side of the belly/chest, then another stripe of baldness along the sides of the belly under the wings. Not hugely noticeable unless you turn them upside down. Do all chickens have these three bald stripes or do I have a problem? The five that went broody earlier in the spring have completely bare bellies, which is normal. But what about the other 15? I have two that are completely feathered underneath, so I've been thinking something is going on. I've been outdoors at night several times, but can't see any mites, even on the white chickens. Nevertheless, I've used pour on ivomec ( 4 drops per hen) twice over two weeks, cleaned the coop, dusted with Tylan powder, rubbed been oil on the roosts, rubbed nu-stock on red places. One hen looked peaky ten days ago, always lying down, so she got three days of vitamins. Picked up now. Put fresh peat moss in the dust baths. Everyone is still bare under there, with peeling dry skin. Is nakedness under there just normal?

 

[All Ball]

I think you are referring to the normal feathering pattern that chickens have - there are not feathers growing on all parts of the body, and occasionally one can see a bald spot, but typically they have enough feathers to cover these areas. That is what you are talking about, right? I think one of the basic chicken books, such as Storey's, has a diagram of those parts of the chicken's body that will grow feathers.