missing feathers

[chick keeper]

Feathers missing, bare spot at base of tail ( no Rooster ) looks dry used bag balm still no feathers (no blood) spot is about 2"x 2" she pokes at it a little, must itch...I have about 2 hens like this.....never had anything like this before...

 

[pineapple416]

Can you post a picture? Not sure what is going on yet.

 

[coach723]

Can you post a good picture? I would check her thoroughly for mites and lice: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/08/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/
Another possibility is feather picking by other birds which can be caused by overcrowding, boredom, a bully, or not enough protein in the diet. Just some thoughts.

 

[khiggins1112]

Hi- looking for some advice as we have 8 chickens almost a year old. One of our chickens was broadly for several months. She would sit on others eggs or nothing. I would always pick her up and take her out to make sure she was eating and drinking. Miraculously, one day she snapped out of it. Just days after I begin to notice black feathers everywhere and now she looks like this, see image. She seemed to be doing well with the group, they welcomed her back in. I am
worried that this isn’t just an off-season mounting, as she seemed just today to be unsteady walking around. It may just be me, but is this look like the areas where they start to moult? Looking for advice from others...

 

[coach723]

Stress can trigger a molt, so maybe, the pictures are not really clear enough to see if there are pin feathers coming in, which would confirm a molt. Do you have a rooster?
Also, if you have a hen go broody and are not going to let her sit on eggs you really should break her, not let it go on, they don't eat or drink well and it takes a lot out of them, so that could be a contributing factor. You can search for how to break a broody hen. How is her weight, check her breast bone to see if it feels prominent, or if the breast is reasonably filled out. I would also give her a thorough going over to check for lice and mites, here is a link with pictures for help identifying them: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/08/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/
With nothing else to go on I would try to up her protein a bit, give some vitamins, like nutri-drench, and see if she starts acting better, molt can also take a lot out of them. Check her crop function (should be full when she goes to roost, and empty in the morning before eating) and see if droppings look normal or not (if not, pictures are helpful) and observe for a while to see if others are feather picking her. If you find anything else let us know. For future posts, if you start a new thread rather than attaching to an already started one you will get more responses. Sometimes when you tack on to the end people may not look as they think it may already be well covered.