Neck feather loss.

[Our Roost]

Just noticed within the last week or so that one of our hens has lost its neck feathers down to the bare skin in spots. She is fully feathered on the rest of her body. No clue if its pecking or possibly a partial molt occuring. Any thoughts on what it might be would be appreciated.

 

[Alaskan]

I don't think a molt usually looks like that (or at least it has never looked like that with my chickens)

My first question is if you have a rooster.

Some roosters yank out feathers from the neck when they mate.

 

[dawg53]

There are times some of my birds have had mini molts and lost only neck feathers. Otherwise it could be a rooster like Alaskan mentioned. Lice could be an irritating problem and your hen is scratching out the neck feathers, inspect her for lice/mites. You could have a feather picker. Have you seen feathers on the ground? Keep an open eye for the feather picker. If this is the case, increase protein in their diet. I recommend gamebird feed for about a month, then wean them back to layer feed. If there's still feather picking going on, cull the feather picker. If you dont, the rest of them will become feather pickers.

 

[gander007]

Pecking or mating and if there are no new feathers coming in
I would need to rule out molting