Polish bald spot

[tnchickymomma]

I have a 3 month old white crested black polish. She has a bald spot about the size of a nickel on the back of her head. I was not able to spot any kind of bugs, nor is there any open skin or bleeding. It is bare skin and what looks like some little broken of spines of where the feathers were. Any info would be great. Does this sound like some sort of illness? Or is she maybe getting picked at? All of our birds are same age. We have 15 total, 2 roosters. Tried to get a photo but it's not a great one.

 

[Kelsie2290]

That looks like feather picking by another bird, is pretty common for polish to get their crests plucked, especially in mixed flocks. You probably want to spray something like Blu-Kote on it to help cover the blood and hopefully keep the other birds away from it before putting her back or they may make it a lot worse fast... they also make anti-pick stuff like Hot Pick which may help. If you have one or more birds that are plucking you may need to separate them or the polish out. Pinless peepers are also something to consider. There are quite a few threads on BYC about it if you do a search, and various things people have tried to stop/control it.

 

[tnchickymomma]

That's what it looked like to me, but I am very new to chickens. A lot of people have said Blue Kote. If I am able to get some in the morning should I still separate her for a while, or can I apply it and let her stay with the flock? She is the only Polish out of 15. We ordered 3 assorted breed and lucked out with this cutie.

 

[Kelsie2290]

She looks like a pretty little girl, they are a fun breed, so cute. If it is not bleeding etc, I would be inclined to spray it and let her back in with the flock but keep a really close eye on her... if the guilty party starts in on her crest again it can get pretty bad fast. I would be prepared to have to separate her permanently or try something like Pinless Peepers if you have one or more birds that are doing the plucking... it just seems to be a common problem in mixed flocks, especially birds that are not basically free ranging.

 

[tnchickymomma]

Yes, unfortunately due to a high population of predators in our area we have our girls (and boys) in a coop and run. They have a ton of space though! We ordered 15 girls and so far 3 of them have turned out to be roosters. Due to some observed behavior, something is telling me the picker may be the RIR rooster. He is being rehomed but not for another 6-8 weeks :-(

 

[evitachu]

My polish is having the same problem now how did you remedy your polish? It looks painful and i spotted dried blood. Please please help..... I only have 4 Polish.
I am sure it is not parasite. They are parasite free.