Does this look like mites or molt?

[sydney13]

My jersey giant has been losing neck feathers for about a month now. The other day she was taking a dust bath when I noticed, not only is it her neck but its her butt and sides that have feather loss. I brought her in and gave her a bath and used soap on the bare spots. When she was wet the feather loss was much more noticeable because before this, her fluff was hiding it.
So here she is after her bath

Does this look like she has a parasite problem? None of my other chickens have this problem and and I dust their coop often with DE.

 

[dawg53]

I believe you wouldve seen lice or mites crawling on her or in the water while you were giving her a bath and wouldve treated accordingly. This looks like either molt or feather picking to me. I dont think a rooster would pull out that many neck feathers, if you have a rooster at all. Have you noticed feather picking going on? Anything stressful can cause feather picking; pecking order changes, overcrowding, weather changes and so on. Molt normally occurs to chickens over 1 year old. I'm leaning toward molt since it has been going on for a month and may continue longer. It will take longer to regrow feathers as well. I recommend you provide her with gamebird feed which is about 22%-26% protein vs about 16% protein in layer feed, it should help with feather regrowth sooner. Even if it is feather picking, gamebird feed provided to your others would most likely put a stop to the feather picking as well, if that is what it is. Either way, egg laying should decrease or completely stop while your JG hen is going through this.

 

[aggie9296]

I'm guessing not molt but something else. Maybe picking as above. Molt should have pin feathers sticking out to replace lost feathers and look like a pin cushion. She looks smooth on bare areas.

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
You are correct....in the regrowth stage. It appears there might be pin feathers on the back of her neck starting to grow, tough to tell though.

 

[sydney13]

I dont think that this is feather picking because I've never seen anyone pecking her. For her to loss this many feathers due to pecking, I would of had to see some aggressive behavior going on toward her.
The strange thing is that she is still daily laying eggs.
On most of her bare spots she does have new feathers emerging through the skin.
While giving her a bath I didn't notice any bugs but some areas on her neck are reddish. Maybe this is just from the feather growth though?

 

[dawg53]

I had a Black Star that went through a molt similar to your hen and she consistantly laid eggs through the entire molt, unlike my other hens that either slowed or stopped laying altogether. The reason some areas on her neck are reddish is because feather regrowth sometimes irritates them and they will scratch the "itch."

 

[sunket77]

from the first photo I thought she was a naked neck...even the missing feathers on her bottom look like a naked neck, I hope she gets her feathers back! Unless of course....she is aspiring to be a naked neck!