Needed some advice on my Chicken loosing feathers.

[Danielc1234]

Hi all,

I needed some help with something that is going on with one of our chickens.
She seems to be losing feathers under her neck. At first it looked like she might have scrapped something in the coop, but now it is starting to get worst.

She only sleeps in the coop and is in the back yard most the day.

Can someone tell me what this is and how I can take care of her?

Thanks
Dan

 

[Soccerchicken]

Do you have any other chickens? I had have a problem kind of like that and it turned out one of my hens was picking out the others feathers. If it were mites or lice, you might be able to see them in her feathers. Lice are little white things, and mites are smaller and black.

 

[Danielc1234]

Yes, we have one more chicken. But I have really never noticed if the other chicken was picking at her feathers. Unless in the night in the coop?

I'll take a look again tomorrow and see if I can see any. I did a quick look today and did not see any mites or lice. I was thinking that I would not be able to see them just by looking.

Other than that area on her neck, her coat/feathers is beautiful.

Thanks

 

[Soccerchicken]

(Thanks for being a good sport on the condition of that post, I was using that thing were you talk and it turns to text, and I didn't realize what it looked like..)


And yes, in the case of my hens I only caught them actually picking each other a few times, and River my red star had almost no feathers left. If you can, sit out and watch them a few times a day. You may have to isolate the picker. My hens were only able to grow their feathers back after my picker passed away.

The picking could be caused by a deficiency, boredom, or even just a too-aggressive alpha hen.