HEllo all. I have a rooster who is now missing a swath of feathers under his beak. His skin does not look irritated or red at all. It looks as if a few of his pencil hackle feathers have been nipped off in one specific spot, but not pulled out. His tail is molting, without a doubt and his legs are looking sweet and covered with the super soft, downy feathers, so I think they are also molting. The neck area is not making sense to me though. I do live in the Boston burbs and it is winter, my first winter with chickens, so I am not really sure what to expect. We have a lovely coop big enough for our 11 ladies (and one roo.) THey have plenty of entertainment; there is a large three-way branch growing through the aviary area of the coop, we hang lettuce and seed blocks for chicken exercise. There does not seem to be too much drama in there. Mostly a lot of cuteness going on. So, I will post a few pix in a second so you can see the weird patches I am talking about. Thanks for any advice you can pass my way.
