I'm not so sure that feather picking is my issue really, but I don't know what else it could be. I have a barred rock pullet (Speckle Hen), just under a year old. Completely healthy other than her hind end is missing some fluff. She's eating, drinking, laying, active, etc. The area is the fluff on her hind end, but only to the sides, not right down the middle under the vent. At first I just noticed that when the wind blew her tail up and fluff around I could see red skin showing, but didn't pay it much mind. Now it's a couple weeks later and she's no better, in fact the area is quite red and warm to the touch. I couldn't feel anything under the skin, no inflamed organs or anything. Not eggbound since she's still laying. I thought maybe she was picking the feathers because something was hurting back there... but thinking like a chicken doesn't always work out right. Any ideas? I know the photo's not great, but here's her backside. At the feather 'pores' you can see what looks like the shaft of the feather still in there, or maybe it's a new feather coming out. Either way, it's not smooth skin but is definitely red and warm. I haven't seen her or anybody else picking at the area, she's rather high in the pecking order (in fact, one of my other hens has a beak mark freshly chomped out of her comb, I wouldn't put it past Speckle Hen to have been by her).
