# What is causing these red featherless areas



## Run1251 (Jun 21, 2012)

About six months ago I noticed three of my hens developing these red featherless areas. I thought the roosters were over breeding them. We have two roosters and 15 hens. Two months ago, I removed the roosters from the pen but the hens are not improving. We have 11 bard rocks, 4 Americanas and 4 guinea hens. This is only affecting the bard rocks. Everyone else is fine. I don't see them scratching. The hens are all 18 months old.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Most often that's someone pecking at them. How much space do they have?


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

Looks like the initial damage was from the rooster action and possibly the plucking of pin feathers from the other birds completed the picture. If they plucked out the pin feathers, it will be a slow grow back and you will have to protect these areas from further plucking...this is usually done by spraying them with BluKote or something similar to keep the other chickens from seeing the blood filled pins..that's the tasty part.

It also could be a space issue, with too much crowding in the coop and run leaving these birds unable to escape the feather pickers.

You might also look closely at the birds under a good light at night to see if you can spot some skin mites or lice. Examine around the vent area. If so, they will need treatment before initiating anything else.

Hatchery quality barred rocks have pretty poor feathering anyway, but add the wear and picking on top and you may be looking at some grow out time, even after using some interventions.

Some cheap treatment options:

*Cover the balded areas with castor oil*~very cheap, very available and very effective for promoting regrowth of hair, while keeping the areas conditioned and providing a natural antibiotic, insecticidal and nutrient rich treatment. Any pharmacy will have some castor oil...it's great for treatment of scale mites and also a natural dewormer, so handy to have in your chicken medicine chest.

*Cut some tube socks* to fit your birds and let them wear some covering to keep the other birds from plucking out new pin feather growth. Keep them changed out, clean and dry as you possibly can until those pin feathers get out of the blood stage. Once you get some good feather covering going, they can do without the socks.

_You could skip the two first steps by spraying BluKote on them but I've heard mixed reviews on the BluKote as far as effectiveness goes. _

*Ferment your current feeds*~this will speed up feather regrowth while cutting your feed bill almost in half, provide better nutrition to your flock and also increase overall health in several ways. You'll have better laying, better tasting eggs, better health, better nutrition, better feed conversion, a better smelling coop, less flies, less feed waste, better feathering of the whole flock, less incidence of internal parasites.

*Increase total coop and run space if possible or simply free range*~the best option. You can also start deep litter in your coop and run to give the hens something to do instead of stand around and pick one another.


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## Run1251 (Jun 21, 2012)

Thank you for the information. How do you ferment feed?


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## Apyl (Jun 20, 2012)

What is the size of your pen? I would have to guess its a space issues, which leads to pecking. Have you checked for mites ? This could be a cause as well.


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## Itsacutefuzzball (Mar 16, 2013)

Run1251 said:


> Thank you for the information. How do you ferment feed?


There is a thread called "Fermented Feeds" on here somewhere.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

The one question that has been ignored, size of the pen? If they are being kept in too tight conditions this will continue and fermented feed will not fix it.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

I agree. I've never had a bird with picked on skin or picked on in any manner, as they have the great outdoors to avoid one another and find more interesting things to peck at. Space is key...and was mentioned in my first post.


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## ten-acre-farms (Oct 3, 2013)

Space may be a big issue. How many chickens do you have and how many square feet do they have? I did have one hen that looked like this, and it ended up Being a obsessive rooster.


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## Run1251 (Jun 21, 2012)

Thank you for all your help. I just sprayed every affected hen with purple spray. I got as much on me as I did them. My hands look like I'm the purple people eater! Only us "old ones" will know what that means. We have 16 hens and 5 guineas. The hen house is 8' by 8' with an attached run that is 8' by 24'. I thought that was large enough but maybe not.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

The books will tell you it's enough space...but you can see now that it isn't. Anytime I see someone with barebacked hens with that scalded look I know they are either in too small of confinement, too few hens with too many roos, or a combination of both.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

One other thing, the Guineas. Guineas do not do well in confinement. Its very possible they are the cause. The only way to know for certain is to be around enough to keep an eye on them.


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## Run1251 (Jun 21, 2012)

I have sprayed the bare hens with blue spray from TS and the picking has stopped but I was reading today about these cloth coats I could put on them. Has anyone heard of or used them? I have to spay the girls every three days and it's really messy.


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## Apyl (Jun 20, 2012)

There are hen saddles but that's to cover the main place rooster scratch up on a hen. What you have is worse than just rooster mating. You need to find the cause and fix that otherwise this will continue and eventually kill your hens. I would definitely think about housing your guineas separate. They need much more space than chickens and have tendencies of being aggressive towards chickens.


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## matt_kas (Mar 11, 2013)

I have been told by friends who HAD gunnies and they had to get rid of them because they were terrorizing the chickens


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Guineas and chickens can live on the same property without issues. But the balance has got to be right. I had a flock of 25 plus Guineas, they had their own very large coop and the chickens had theirs. There were no issues with the two because my Guinea flock was so large. 

In discussions with other Guinea keepers it has been pretty much confirmed that a flock of Guineas should be at least ten for harmony to rein. They are genetically wired to get in to knock down drag out fights for supremacy within the Guinea flock. If sparring partners are not available they turn to the chickens. Being faster and a lot stronger than chickens, the chicken will always lose.


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## Cwulle (May 4, 2015)

Mine have 1050 sq ft of fenced area but have this problem or one does but the hen originally got exposed area due to a rooster that has been taken out of the pin. This square feet is for five chickens fyi. More space than I have hahah. At night I do have to put them in their coop to slee and that is 32 sq ft. I will try the castor oil. Has anyone tried essential oils for this like frankincense?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

The thing that you have to keep in mind, toxicity. Just because it can be safely used on another living being does not mean its safe for birds. Your goal is to stop them from pecking at that bright red skin, the best cover for that is Blu Kote since it dies the skin and helps hide developing feathers. 

You probably need to try to discover who the culprit is that gets the pecking started and remove that bird for a time out.


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