# Missing Feathers



## anelson726 (Feb 25, 2014)

My ameracauna mysteriously lost a bunch of feathers on her head. One minute she was fine, the next minute she had these weird bald patches. No blood or obvious injury. Haven't seen anyone picking on her. Her feathers around the bald spots are crusty though. Not sure what got on them. It's not blood. Any ideas?








Sent from my iPhone using Chicken Forum


----------



## hellofromtexas (Feb 16, 2014)

1. Has anything happened recently that could cause any stress? (loss of a friend, added new birds, got a puppy, change in weather etc)

2. Is it possible it's her first molt?

How old is she?

3. Have you checked for mites/lice? (mites look like moving pepper/ lice look like moving salt)

Those are the known feather losses to the best of my knowledge. I would lean towards #1 and #3 first though before giving molt muffins. However molt muffins are good for feather repair and I'd give them anyway. (chicken version of protein bars)


----------



## anelson726 (Feb 25, 2014)

Nothing in her life has changed recently. I check for lice and mites regularly. Nothing I found. I don't think it's a molt because it's just these two spots. She hasn't lost any other feathers at all. This happened all at once too. I was away for literally 45 minutes and came back to find all these feathers missing. It didn't happen over the course of a few days or anything. Because of their location, she can't pluck them herself. I'm concerned someone else might be plucking her feathers for some reason. 


Sent from my iPhone using Chicken Forum


----------



## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

Was she free ranging or in the coop at this time?


----------

