Missing feathers... not moulting???

[chickenbythesea]

We just returned from a mini vacation (which was wonderful) to find one of my hens missing a streak of feathers. We had a neighbour taking care of them. Her breast is missing a clump of feathers and all down her keel is missing feathers right down to the skin. There's no visible injuries other then the missing feathers. I am wondering if something tried to grab her but we can't find any signs of entry or damage to the run or coop. One other bird has a little spot but nothing like this one. Anyone with an idea what happened?



Sorry for the picture quality... I'm holding the hen with one hand and taking the picture without being able to "see" what I'm shooting. Thanks

 

[Happy Chooks]

Has she been spending a lot of time in the nesting boxes? Hens can pluck their chest feathers out when they want to hatch babies. But this looks more extreme than normal for any broodies I've had.

 

[chickenbythesea]

no, we only have 2 immature roo's and my hatchery hens have never gone broody. I have one other hen that has just a small spot on her breast and nothing down the keel. It also only happened during the two days we were camping. I'm keeping an eye on it but since I don't know why I don't know what to do to stop it.

 

[Happy Chooks]

What about dogs? Could your neighbor have brought a dog with her?

 

[chickenbythesea]

no.. they know no dogs allowed. I was thinking maybe something reached through and grabbed the feathers but it's highly unlikely during the day that she'd allow that and they're locked up at night. She's acting normal so I guess I don't have to worry too much. I would just like to be able to prevent it from happening again.