Molting or picked on?

[Melissa in the PNW]

I have a year old hen that I can’t tell if she is molting or if she is getting picked on. This is our first full year of chickens and they haven’t really molted yet since we have had them so I’m not too sure. She is missing feathers on the back of her neck and has no tail feathers. She is still super energetic and runs up to me when I go out there so she seems okay. I just wanted to see if anyone had ideas on what could be happening or what I should maybe do for her!

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Can you post a pic? It can be molting, mites, rooster or getting picked on. If not molting you're going to want to get it before blood appears which will trigger the other sweet little canibals...

 

[Melissa in the PNW]

These are kind of the only pictures I could get, we have another bird that’s starting to lose feathers also so I’m really hoping it’s just molting I’ve been watching out for blood because we have had that happen before but I haven’t seen any!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Since I can't see in the photos, when you look at the back of her neck for example, do you see pin feathers? They're thin, plastic-y looking quills.

It's looking like a molt to me, but you can confirm it by looking for clusters of pin feathers coming in at the bare patches.

 

[Melissa in the PNW]

Since I can't see in the photos, when you look at the back of her neck for example, do you see pin feathers? They're thin, plastic-y looking quills.

It's looking like a molt to me, but you can confirm it by looking for clusters of pin feathers coming in at the bare patches.

Yea!! That’s what is left where there are feathers missing!! Molting, I’ll go with that! Haha