HELP, is this chicken sick or molting?

[rick24]

sorry if this is a needless freak-out, but I am a newbie.

I have a 2.5 yr old hen who has patches of missing feathers. i circled a bad spot in the picture, there are other similar spots on the other side and neck. I have 5 other hens who all look normal. have never seen anything like this before so not sure if this is normal molting or unhealthy. it's pretty cold here right now (low 40s) so she probably shouldn't be without feathers for long, right?

She lives in a large coop with the other birds and I use a combination of straw and pine shavings for the bedding. There is no other sign of injury or trauma, but she hasn't been laying eggs for the last week.

thanks,
Rick

 

[sourland]

She's molting and that's why she has stopped laying. She looks okay to me.

 

[rick24]

Thank you!