My new chicken has bald spots… I’m new!

[Daniluchau]

Hello all!
I got two chickens today from a place off of the road in a rural town. The chickens there seemed to have a large pen and it was not over crowded. I got handed two chickens- one with a full set of feathers and another with some bald spots of raw red skin ://. It was pouring so in the frazzle of things, i didn’t notice her condition. This is my first day ever as a chicken owner and i know some background info about molting cycles, but I’ve never seen it. I know there could also be some other reasons like the pecking order or mites… because she is new, i have not had enough time to observe her behavior; if she is at the bottom of the pecking order. My sister saw the other new chicken pecking lightly at her in their new coop… I’ve attached a photo of the most prominent bald spot on her backside. Supposedly they are 6-9 months old. Down here in south Florida it’s obviously a hot and rainy summer. Any ideas on what this could be and how i could help?
anything is appreciated.
thank you!!

 

[sourland]

Hello, and welcome to BYC. It looks as if she was feather pecked/plucked by flock mates at her last home.

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
Looks like some rooster damage but the feathers are growing back in.
You need a much larger run for two birds than what they have.

 

[JustBabyMargo]

Oh no! My recommendation would be to get the hen a little chicken cape! We had to do this for one of our hens when they got their back ripped up from another hen!

 

[JustBabyMargo]

Or I guess they are also called chicken saddles! Some people just keep these on their hens all the time in case of this happening!

 

[JustBabyMargo]

You can buy some on Etsy which might have been where we got ours!

 

[Daniluchau]

Hello, and welcome to BYC. It looks as if she was feather pecked/plucked by flock mates at her last home.

Thank you for the help! I appreciate it very much. I assume the game plan would be to get a "hen apron", observe behavior and feed a healthy protein full diet?
thanks

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

Yes this is definitely either rooster damage from over mating and or pecking from her flock mates. She needs a "hen saddle" to prevent more pecking and becoming injured.

Welcome to our community!

 

[Daniluchau]

Hello, and welcome to BYC. It looks as if she was feather pecked/plucked by flock mates at her last home.

Thank you for your help! I appreciate it very much. I assume the game plan would be to get her a "hen apron", feed her a protein full healthy diet and observe behavior?
thanks

 

[Daniluchau]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

Yes this is definitely either rooster damage from over mating and or pecking from her flock mates. She needs a "hen saddle" to prevent more pecking and becoming injured.

Welcome to our community!

Thank you so so much! will do. does feeding extra protein help these feathers come back in/heal up?