Hello, I have a bantam chocolate orpington that survived a hawk attack about a month ago. Today I noticed that her feathers around her neck are sort of gone. She's only about 6 months old so I didn't think she would molt, but I am wondering if it's part of the recovery and stress from the hawk attack? She wasn't too badly injured - she was able to rejoin the flock in three days without any trouble. The flock is very mellow and I haven't seen any bullying so I don't think she's getting picked at.
Stress does often cause molts, so that could certainly be the reason. Or, she may simply be responding to decreasing daylight hours as winter approaches. Just to be safe, though, I would check beneath her feathers for any signs of external parasites. Look for little moving black, red, or yellow specks, or white eggs clumped at the base of the feathers (lice eggs).
