missing feathers, inflamed skin

[mattndi527]

My chickens all have missing feathers (bald spots) on their backs. At first we thought they were pecking each other but have never actually seen them do it. Now the spots are getting bigger. We read about mites and sprayed the coup and chickens with a pesticide that was safe for chickens. That was several weeks ago and we still see no improvement. Help! What is this and how do we fix it? I will add a pic to show what they look like.

 

[mattndi527]

 

[BantamLover21]

Do you have any roosters? Excessive mating often causes feather loss in the areas that your hens have.

 

[mattndi527]

No roosters. We have red sex link and Rhode island red chickens. They are a little over a year old and have had these bald spots and inflamed skin for at least six months. They started out really small but have progressively gotten worse.

 

[paul-b]

I am having the same issues, I have 18 girls at the moment, a mix of breeds all first and second year layers all the sudden two of them have developed a bare spot about 1/3-1/2 the side of there back with all but the pin feathers missing and the area gets progressively redder and more inflamed. no open bleeding, do not see others pecking them, do not have roosters and as far as can tell no mites..

as said before only has happened to two birds almost simultaneously ????

anyone have any advice??

Paul

 

[Morrigan]

The woman at the feed store told me that hens can mount other hens as a show of pecking order and cause missing back feathers, very similar to what a rooster would do. After I heard this, I kept a look out and, sure enough, I saw my top hen mounting another hen the other day.

So, if the feather damage is just on their back where a rooster would mount, and it's only a couple of flock members, it could be caused by another hen.

 

[paul-b]

Thanks I'll keep an eye out but as of yet I have not seen that. But in hind sight they maybe the bottom of the pecking order. As I have noticed they roost side by side on the bottom shelf. ?????

 

[mattndi527]

I have not found a solution to this problem yet. Since my original post a couple of my hens have re grown their feathers and look fine. However, most still look like this and worse. They also have missing feathers on the sides under the wings. I do have a hen that mounts the hens sometimes.

 

[TracyLovesDucks]

Were you able to find any more information regarding your chickens' conditions?

 

[Acefit411]

Following