Silkie's "Afro"... Frozen??!

[WhitneyG]

Hello I have a white Silkie hen. I had noticed for a while, her "afro" (all the fuzz on her forehead/top of her head) looked kind of "dirty." But, today, when I went into the coop, it was almost all gone!!! The poor thing You can see her blue skin, and where the fuzz SHOULD be...
My first thought was this: it's been really cold here (negative temps) so, maybe when she got a drink of water, her fuzz got wet and then froze and fell out
But, I was just wondering if this is a sign of something else... mites, lice, etc.?
Thanks

 

[Eggcessive]

It sounds like another chicken pulled out her feathers. Any chicken with a poof on top will be attractive for feather pickers. You need to look all over her body , especially under the vent, around the neck , and elsewhere for signs of lice or mites. Some mites will only come out at night after dark. Make sure your chickens get 16% protein in their feed, have plenty of room and can get outside, so that they aren't bored. Here are 2 good links to see pictures of what to look for:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/08/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification.html
http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8162.pdf

 

[Egg_Carrier01]

This happened to my silkie recently. I think it's because of her fuzz being wet, but I don't know for sure. I had to blowdry her, and eventually, it came back. I hope that helps!