Neck Feathers Still Missing

[Disheygirl]

I have a one year old EE hen who went through a light molt a few months ago, and some of her feather loss was on her neck. I posted about it a few months ago, but she is still missing feathers. I had given her topical ivermectin in case it was those burrowing mites, but it didn’t do a thing. Then I thought that maybe there was a picker among the birds and separated them into two groups at night. Still no change (and the birds she is with have pinless peepers on because they were being jerks to my new pullets, so I just don’t think it’s picking).

I tried blue kote, neosporin, the ivermectin, and today I used some rooster booster “no cannibalism” topical stuff after I took pics.

I have gone over her repeatedly with a fine tooth comb…no mites, eggs, fleas, bugs of any sort. Other than this, she’s normal.

Thoughts? It’s so weird.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I had a hen who was mostly naked for over a year after molting. What finally helped her was increasing her protein. I mixed starter with their normal pellet.

Also, do you have a rooster? They will pull out neck feathers sometimes during mating.

Here's a before and after of my hen:

 

[Disheygirl]

No rooster and that is a crazy difference! Mine has a chance after all. I’ll try the starter mix - it’s worth a shot. Our dogs get raw grass fed beef from a local farmer; I wonder if she’d eat some of that (assuming chickens can have it - I’ll look it up first). She’s on the low end of the pecking order so if I can give the protein directly to her, it may also help. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Disheygirl]

It seems like she’s losing more now. I guess maybe she wants to be one of those naked neck chickens. The girl on the right…. It’s driving me batty that I can’t get them to grow back.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She's being plucked. Looking at your photos she has broken feathers and the shafts of the feathers are still intact in the skin. She won't regrow/replace those until she goes through a molt.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/ee-being-de-feathered.1519246/

 

[HylineChookChooks123]

She could have been pecking, or another chicken is pecking her. Make sure she has lots of space. This happened to my chicken a while back. Have you tried putting some apple cider vinegar in her water? Or maybe try a new kind of Ivermecten (doesn't necessarily have to be the chicken variety)?