missing neck feathers on several chickens

[christytrav]

So I have had several friends who have complained of feather picking that resulted in naked necks. A few days ago I noticed my BCM hen was missing a bunch of feathers on her neck, tonight I counted 5 birds w/ bare necks. I am hoping that someone out there can tell me if it is feather picking by other birds or some sort of nutritional deficiency and any ideas on how to prevent more occurances. Thank you

 

[SportTees]

I could be do to mating..the males grab the females by the back of the neck. They also loose feathers naturally during molting. Do you have a pic?

 

[christytrav]

Yeah that is initially what I thought since my BCM is a pretty big girl and my roo is a new guy(but not small) But then I noticed my Faverelles missing feathers on the under side of her neck, chin area. I will try to get some pics this morning & post them.

 

[christytrav]

SO here are pictures of a few. This morning when I went down my rooster is missing feathers now too, and he had these adorable wispy feathers on his cheeks almost like whiskers. Any ideas from anyone? I am going to go feed them some fish this afternoon. I have an 8X8 coop with a covered run. I sprout barley and add in beet pulp, cracked corn, sunflowerseeds, flax seed, and cayenne pepper. They gets lots of fresh veggies and fruits. I give oyster shell and I have been feeding 20% layer most of the winter because I had several moulting. The birds that are missing feathers are all under a year old except my BCM but she moulted several months ago.

 

[Jessie66]

One of my hens is totally bald on the front neck part, i thought it was from picking, but now think it is from lice or mites, although I have checked her over and can't see any obvious creep crawlys. Alot of her other feathers seem chewed on, like the ends are missing. I am going to treat them all today with powder and clean the coop really well and put mite/lice powder in all the cracks and crevasses. Hope that does the job and she grows her feathers back. She looks UGLY

Have you checked yours for mites/lice?

 

[christytrav]

Yes, like you, I checked my BCM the day I noticed feathers missing, I only checked the vent area but I havn't treated my birds for lice in a long time. I will do that tonight.

 

[SportTees]

One of my hens is totally bald on the front neck part, i thought it was from picking, but now think it is from lice or mites, although I have checked her over and can't see any obvious creep crawlys. Alot of her other feathers seem chewed on, like the ends are missing. I am going to treat them all today with powder and clean the coop really well and put mite/lice powder in all the cracks and crevasses. Hope that does the job and she grows her feathers back. She looks UGLY

Have you checked yours for mites/lice?

I was thinking the same thing it could be mites or lice.

 

[iokra]

did you ever find out what caused the feather loss on your chickens neck? I am having the same problem now with my chickens and now my roo as well

 

[christytrav]

No I didn't. It seemed to have resolved itself too, if I remember right. It is the same time of year that mine did this. Are yours last springs chicks? I would bet it is a molting issue or lice issue just due to the time of year. Good luck.

 

[iokra]

Thank you for the kind reply. They all hatched early last summer. If it's lice what would you treat with?