One chicken with a bald patch

[Lady423]

i just noticed that one of my chickens has a bald patch between her wings. She is 18 weeks old. You can only see the bald patch when she is in the right position. For the most part, she seems healthy but maybe a little scrawny compared to the rest of the girls. Any advice? I’ve included a pic. Thank you!

 

[BlueBaby]

It look's like cockerel or rooster wear to me.

 

[Lady423]

What does that mean? I do have lots of wild roosters around but my chickens have never left the coop.

 

[Lady423]

It look's like cockerel or rooster wear to me.

What is rooster wear?

 

[BlueBaby]

What is rooster wear?

It's a sign of when a rooster is mating with a pullet or hen.

 

[sourland]

One or more of her flock mates are feather plucking.

 

[Chickassan]

Not rooster wear, mini molt. She is going through a teenage mini molt, reason I say this is because I can see new feathers coming in and not old feathers broken off. Normal, in fact she may have a couple more.

 

[Lady423]

Not rooster wear, mini molt. She is going through a teenage mini molt, reason I say this is because I can see new feathers coming in and not old feathers broken off. Normal, in fact she may have a couple more.

I see a bunch of little feathers coming in around her neck as well. This is my first time having chickens so I don’t know a lot. Do I just leave it alone for now? I do have a lot of wild roosters but only 4 hens. Maybe supervised free ranging only?

 

[BlueBaby]

I see a bunch of little feathers coming in around her neck as well. This is my first time having chickens so I don’t know a lot. Do I just leave it alone for now? I do have a lot of wild roosters but only 4 hens. Maybe supervised free ranging only?

If you are letting them free-range and there are wild-rooster's about, you could end up with fertile eggs that you won't know what rooster got to them. Rooster's will fly over a fence to have the chance to mate with them.

 

[Chickassan]

Yes leave it alone, she's a pro at growing feathers.
You can give her scrambled or boiled eggs to give her added protein to speed it up a little and make it easier if you want to.
The wild roosters, oh boy. Yeah unless you do want rooster wear on your ladies you do want to supervise their outings.

I see a bunch of little feathers coming in around her neck as well. This is my first time having chickens so I don’t know a lot. Do I just leave it alone for now? I do have a lot of wild roosters but only 4 hens. Maybe supervised free ranging only?