Molting? Or Something Else?

[Reurra]

Shes been losing feathers for a few days now. Her nest box is full of them but shes shown no signs of wanting to brood. I inspected her and I dont see any signs of mites at all...so my guess is that shes moulting?

 

[Puranin]

I

Shes been losing feathers for a few days now. Her nest box is full of them but shes shown no signs of wanting to brood. I inspected her and I dont see any signs of mites at all...so my guess is that shes moulting?

I would think that's all it is. When my Brahma molts it looks like a pillow has exploded in the coop.

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

Is it just on her neck? If it’s localized I would look for feather picking. But it could be a molt.

 

[Reurra]

The balding seems on the front of her neck but the rest of her seems thinner than usual. Shes got cochin in her, so shes the fluffiest of my girls. And shes the dominant hen.

My only guess is that shes either pulling the feathers to line her nest but not going broody, and too stupid to pull them from her belly like a normal broody, or shes moulting. I dont see any rashes, swelling, illness, mites or anything that would seem poorly about her behavior.

If it is feather picking, maybe she dropped a few rungs down the pecking order? However, I dont have any real number of feathers on the ground outside the nests, most are inside the boxes, so Im hoping its just her being a birdbrain. She is young, not even a year old yet.

 

[aart]

Could be a partial molt...could be a 'maybe I want to be broody'.
Only time will tell, maybe.