Now 4 bare backs!

[BCMominMD]

I posted last week about one of my eight (1 roo, rest pullets) 9 week olds ending up with a bare spot on her back after I moved them from their crowded inside brooder to their spacious 8x10 amish shed coop. I didn't get an answer.
Now I have 4 pullets (2 EE's, 2 black sex links) with varying stages of bald spots. There are no peck/red marks just bare skin with broken feathers. The dominant white rock hen, 2 wyandotte girls & white rock roo are fine. I don't see them picking on each other and the roo isn't acting rooish yet.
The only thing I HAVE noticed is that when they roost at night (roost is a 2x4 with wide side up and it is 8 feet long, 3 feet high) they climb all over each other to get on the 2 feet closest to the wall and the dominant hen wedges herself next to the wall which appears to be the most desirable position. Last week the nights got cold into the 40/50's so I thought they were cold. Now the night's are into the 60's and more pullets are affected.
What am I doing wrong?

 

[rigagirl]

check for mites, someone on here say you see them at night

 

[arlee453]

If the feathers are broken and not just falling out 'clean' it's likely that you have a feather picker. They can do a lot of damage in a short period of time, so even if you aren't seeing it happen it doesn't mean that you don't have one that's picking at the others.

Mites would have to be horribly, terribly, incredibly heavy infestation to cause the feathers to come out like this, and then it'd probably start where the mites like to gather - around the vent and under the wings and on the neck before the feathers on the back were affected. Mites bad enough to cause feather loss would be very obvious, and I have a hard time thinking they could get that bad in just 9 weeks - still it doesn't hurt to check them. Look around their vents for little crawling bugs the size of a pin head or even smaller.

Do they have a dust bathing area? Maybe they are just bored... also what are you feeding them. Sometimes it's a craving or feed deficiency that can cause picking. At that age they should be getting around 20% protein.

Hmmmm...anyone else with ideas??

 

[BCMominMD]

Thanks for answering.
I am feeding Purina Start and Grow.
They do not have a dust bath but do "dust bathe" in the pine shavings.
They may be bored. The run is new and not yet covered. 4 of the pullets found their way out the first day and the others were too afraid to come out Then I was gone for the weekend and hubby was afraid to let them out in case he couldn't get them in.
I will leave the pop door open today. Hopefully that will help.
I don't see any mites or insects on them.

 

[arlee453]

Feed should be fine then and if you don't see any obvious parasites it def sounds like a picker to me.

Just keep an eye on them and make sure they don't draw blood - hopefully they'll grow out of it and it was just due to stress of moving to a new place.

Good luck!

 

[BCMominMD]

Thanks so much!!

 

[pipermark]

I have bareback hens for the first time. The breed is New Jersey Giants. The bare backs are from breeding, the size of the rooster vs the softness of the feathers. I intend to build a recoop pen, this is a place I will put the hens where 0 roosters can get to them. I intend to only let a rooster in when I want to breed the for chicks. This will solve the problem.

To help your hens feather out quicker increase their protein intake via starter /grower or treats.