Treading Damage

[Moonbeam0420]

Hi All,
I had a rooster by mistake. He was fine, until he wasn't at 15 months. I noticed my girls all had fluffs at the base of their tails on their backs. I found out this was treading from my rooster. He got rehomed, all my girls recovered with their next molt, except one. It has been about 10-11 months he's been gone.
Thelma still has not healed. I've had a saddle on her for months (I check it, take it off, clean it, etc.) Her back looks normal skin color when I take it off. Within a couple days it's flaming red. Sooo, I put the saddle back on. After a few days, back to normal skin color. Now I'm seeing irritation on her wings where the strap goes around.
I've taken the saddle off. I watch during the day, I don't see her getting bullied or pecked (or anyone else). Everyone is fine but her. I started wondering if she's getting picked on at night. She has a pretty good bald spot.
Now I've separated her at night. She's starting to get red again and I'm wondering if she's pecking her own bald spot. She's been separated from the flock for 2 nights. It's getting red. I've tried a couple different no peck, also spray medication. I've seen her peck back there once when the saddle was off. But looked more like preening than pecking. IDK what to do. I'm at a loss. I don't want to put the saddle back on. It didn't help grow feathers back, now its irritating the wings. Because it's getting red again, and she's alone at night, I'm thinking she may be doing this to herself. Any recommendations greatly appreciated.
She's 1.5 years old.

 

[coach723]

It may not fill in until she molts. She may have only done a partial molt before, or depending on the timeline, and because of her age, she may not have done a full molt yet.
The other possibility is that you have a dominant hen that is doing mounting behavior in the absence of a rooster. That happens sometimes. That could be the reason for the bare shoulders, rather than the saddle straps.
The skin does get redder when it's exposed to sun, but it's not usually a big issue unless they just can't get out of the sun at all.
I would do some observing, might take a while, to see if you have a hen that is mounting. You can either continue to use the saddle, until you see new feathers coming in, probably when she molts later this year. Or you can leave it off. Up to you.

 

[Moonbeam0420]

It may not fill in until she molts. She may have only done a partial molt before, or depending on the timeline, and because of her age, she may not have done a full molt yet.
The other possibility is that you have a dominant hen that is doing mounting behavior in the absence of a rooster. That happens sometimes. That could be the reason for the bare shoulders, rather than the saddle straps.
The skin does get redder when it's exposed to sun, but it's not usually a big issue unless they just can't get out of the sun at all.
I would do some observing, might take a while, to see if you have a hen that is mounting. You can either continue to use the saddle, until you see new feathers coming in, probably when she molts later this year. Or you can leave it off. Up to you.

Thank you so much for your info and response!