Dominique chicken losing feathers around butt and neck in first winter??

[constana]

Hey everyone--

My Dominique chicken is about 9 months old. In the last couple weeks I've noticed that she's lost some feathers around her neck area. She's been a pretty good layer since she was about 5 months old and continues to lay 5-6 eggs / week. I have a Buff Orpington and a Buckeye in the coop with her and I've had a white light in there to try to encourage the BO to start laying (she's the only one who hasn't started). When I started noticing the Dominique losing feathers around her neck, I assumed that she was being pecked (I read that white light sometimes gets them pecking at each other) and then turned off the light at night. Today, I let her free range in the yard a bit and I noticed that her butt was bare, as you can see in the pictures.

What's going on with her? Is it possible for a chicken to start molting in their first winter? I'm new to raising chickens, so any help, ideas, or suggestions would be very welcome.

Sorry for the bad pictures. It was tough holding her and snapping a picture so I had to try and follow her until I was able to get a good shot of her booty

 

[Gallinarium]

That isn't molting, it's bullying. White light does occasionally cause picking, but it isn't the only reason. Try this article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/feather-picking-in-chickens-my-experiences.72489/

 

[Myrshine]

Loss of feathers can be caused by many things. Most common are molting, bullying or parasites. To me, this looks like a bullying issue, but I’m starting to lean maybe lice or mites causing this. Have you checked your birds for mites or lice recently?

 

[constana]

Loss of feathers can be caused by many things. Most common are molting, bullying or parasites. To me, this looks like a bullying issue, but I’m starting to lean maybe lice or mites causing this. Have you checked your birds for mites or lice recently?

I have not intentionally checked them for mites or lice (I didn't know this was something to check for), but I do pick them up to look at their heads/necks and their vent areas periodically. I haven't ever noticed any bugs crawling around anywhere. I will check out some forums about how to check for these.

Thanks!

 

[constana]

That isn't molting, it's bullying. White light does occasionally cause picking, but it isn't the only reason. Try this article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/feather-picking-in-chickens-my-experiences.72489/

Thank you for this! I'm betting it's more an issue of space and/or boredom than anything else. I only have 3 hens and I used to give them a lot more time to free range in our fenced-off yard. However, when I saw how they were destroying some of the grass, I decided to limit their time out of the run/coop. The only thing is that the coop and run seem like they should be large enough from what I've read (my run is around 32 sq. ft and the coop is around 10 sq. ft.).

 

[constana]

Okay. I read the article and I still have a few questions.

With my current setup, I'm limited with how much space I can add to the coop or the run, so I've tried quarantining my pecked bird. I can manage this during the day and even let her free range a bit (though it really bothers me that they are tearing up my grass), but I don't have anywhere to keep her safe at night. Is it okay to put the birds together again at night? Will they be able to see the bare spots and still peck her?

I've been using a light inside the run for the last month or so to try to encourage our third hen to start laying (they're all about 9-10 months old). Does this white light have anything to do with them starting to peck? I've never had a problem until the winter.

Should I consider quarantining the pecker? Or, is just separating her from the pecked hen enough? I think I've found the culprit when I saw some feather fuzz in her beak.

I've tried the Pick No More, but I've caught the victim trying to peck it off of herself! I guess she didn't like it.

Has anyone tried Pinless Peepers? Do they work? Should I invest in them?

https://www.eggcartons.com/Pinless-Peepers-p/article-1.htm