Red, featherless neck

[Sjmills77]

Hi,
My rhode island Red hen has had a red, featherless neck for about 8 months now. Does anyone know what causes this or what I can do to help her?

thank you!

 

[JustCallMeMaple]

Well pin feathers are there is she plucking them at all or getting them plucked by others? Pin feathers are itchy.

 

[Huntmaster]

Hi,
My rhode island Red hen has had a red, featherless neck for about 8 months now. Does anyone know what causes this or what I can do to help her?

thank you!

Looks like she is rubbing neck on something fence, feeder, and rubbing her feathers off. What type of feeder does she use? Is she always sticking head through a fence?

 

[Lizzy733]

Have you inspected for mites?

The redness may be sensitive - they can sunburn and I've seen one of my hens get a 'comb' red breast in the heat of summer before. Was very sensitive to touch there.

It would be best to have a sit outside for a while and monitor the flock behavior for bullying or plucking.

How is the protein content of their feed? Plucking and feather eating may mean they're not getting enough and looking for it elsewhere. It will also help speed up regrowth, so make sure to offer her some high-protein treats to get those pinfeathers moving.

Hens can also molt in bizarre ways sometimes. My silkie recently molted her entire head poof! Pins started coming in right away, but is odd to see her without it. I think she's appreciating that she can see where she's going at the moment. It's grown back enough to cover her vault, but nowhere near it's typical magesty.

 

[Sjmills77]

Thank you! I will look into some of these ideas. It’s possible she’s sticking her head through the fence but she has a lot of free range space too. She eats all flock and layer feed so maybe she needs more protein for awhile. I haven’t seen others pick on her much either. I just haven’t been able to pin point exactly what is causing it for such a long time. I appreciate all the suggestions.