Feather Picking

[Gen51]

I do not know if the feathers are being picked or what but I suspect they are. I only have 4 hens and 3 out of the 4 have bare butts. I suspect the one hen is the one picking the others because she is the boss in the coop. I let them out for several hours every evening. If it were mites, wouldn't all of them have the bare butts? All 3 have had bare butts since last summer and the feathers still have not grown back. I do not know what to do about this. I live in a warm climate so not worried about them freezing and they do not act like anything is wrong. Any suggestions?

 

[Routhfamilyfarm]

I have the same problem. Hopefully someone has some knowledge or suggestions.

 

[Gen51]

Well didn't have the response I wanted from this site. But wanted to let the routhfamilyfarm know I traded the girl I thought was the culprit and sure enough, the other girls are already growing their feathers back. So my suspicions were on que.

 

[Mschkweasnduck]

Well didn't have the response I wanted from this site. But wanted to let the routhfamilyfarm know I traded the girl I thought was the culprit and sure enough, the other girls are already growing their feathers back. So my suspicions were on que.

I'm sorry u didn't get a answer ,that Never happens
If I'd have seen earlier I would have claimed "BULLY" some gal in your flock is being a over achiever in the pecking order .my rooster copper lost all his hiney feathers fighting everyone and losing...did he learn? Nope.he waited till tragedy struck and took my gentle giant Pepper (coyote) and got worse ,killed my silkie roo (I suspect) ran the other one off and proceeded to try and intimidate my 3yr old..now he's terrorizing someone else .poor hens ....so long answe longer..yes bully ,I'm so glad u got the culprit lol was she the only one with a fluffy butt? Lol. Have a feat day.and don't give up yet on byc...it took me forever just to get to know kinda what to do where to click and how to navigate.getting easier by the minute.

 

[Gen51]

Thank you. Yes she was the only one with feathers on her hiney. But since I was knew to this world I just wasn't sure and I hated to get rid of her but no-one offered advice how to deal or just didn't know how to deal with a hen like this so she had to go. But those four girls had been together for a while and I added a new icecream bar hen and the other 3 kind of pick on her. she doesn't get to eat the fresh stuff I put out until they are thru. I added onto my pen and so it is larger and now I can get new ones and keep them separated for awhile before mixing them in together. When I took my hen to trade for her my heart hurt because they just put her in the mix with all their existing hens and they have a lot of chickens, several of them were mean and pecking her trying to fight her even. I know that's normal but it was just hard to watch. I even saw a little blood after one peck her in her comb. I had to leave, I couldn't watch anymore.