Missing neck feathers

[seafood]

We have a small flock of 10 birds. 9 hens and 1 roo. All born this past March 2008. All have been healthy and layed great until about 2 weeks ago. Cold snap and much shorter sunlight days had me thinking that was the issue.

Today my wife noticed that two hens were missing most of the feathers in their upper neck. The comb on the one brown leghorn has layed over a bit and looks a bit odd.

Any thoughts? Sick? Is there some kind of mite that would cause this?

Any help appreciated.

 

[nnbreeder]

That is the area that the rooster will grab while mating the hen and feather loss is expected there and on the back just above the tail.
As a Leghorn hen matures it's natural for her comb to flop over and you may just be seeing your pullets mature.
Either way look for signs of standing with feathers fluffed out and just not acting like a chicken should for signs of illness.

 

[gritsar]

I agree with nnbreeder. Your little roo is probably practicing his mating skills. The girls are bound to lose a few neck feathers in the process.