Bald Chicken!

[LetsBeSelfSufficient]

Hi all,

It looks like the tiniest of my four hens was picked on by her sisters while pent up in the run. Normally, in the warmer months, they have the run of the yard, but now that the shrubbery growing around and above our fence is withering, it's not as effective at keeping the ladies out of our neighbor's yard. Yesterday, while I was at work I kept them in the run, which is what I did last winter.

I guess they were used to having the whole yard, got frustrated and took it out on the little one. Today they left her alone, and I'm confident they'll leave her be as long as they free range all day.

My question is: Now that it's getting cold, should I worry about the little one's health? They pulled feathers from her neck, and I'm nervous that she'll get sick.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

[BarredBuff]

I am reminded of a Barred Rock I had out of the last batch of layers. She was in moult when I bought her, she never grew her feathers back, she was reliable layer for her career hear. She survived the winter too. Chickens are tougher than what you think. Hope it helps

 

[Denim Deb]

I have a crippled hen that is missing a spot of feathers on her neck thanks to Gidget the goat. She survived last winter in spite of the deep snow and unusual cold that we had w/no problem whatsoever.

 

[deb4o]

I too have bald chickens, mine was due to a rooster who was over zealous in his work

They have always been just fine in the winter, of course they have a nice warm coop to be in most of the time.

If your really concerned you could always knit her a scarf lol

 

[Rebecka]

I was wondering the same thing. We purchased some older chickens and a few were bald when we got them and never grew their feathers back. I notice they tend to sleep with their head tucked and am pretty confident they will be fine now.

 

[LetsBeSelfSufficient]

Okay, it looks like my lil lady is hanging in there just fine. This morning she was skipping all over the yard with her sisters, looking pretty healthy if I do say so myself. And this was after two cold, wet nights.

Thanks, everyone!

 

[patandchickens]

If there are chickens she can snuggle against on the roost (i.e. not the ones that plucked her in the first place ) she should be fine.

My whackadoodle little campine hen -- this is a small breed, barely larger than bantams -- ended up pretty much completely nekkid for her first winter, owing to the incessant but inept amorous attentions of my Sussex roo and the other sussex hens' ideas about how to indicate to the campine how the food chain worked in that pen. She was never bloodied, but really had only wing feathers and some around her vent and not much else. She looked just *awful*, like one step away from a styrofoam tray and shrink wrap.

But she spent the whole winter sleeping at night snuggled up against her protector the big Sussex roo (in fact, sometimes she would actually wedge herself under his wing), and was perfectly fine.

(Once her first molt rolled around, the following fall, she was back to her normal plumage and by then the roo had improved his technique and she had come to terms with the sussex hens, and she's been fully feathered and beautiful -- if whackadoodle -- ever since)

Mind you that was only with winter coop temps down to the low 20s F. A bare-nekkid hen would probably have a lot more trouble down towards zero or below, or if she didn't have a big warm friend like Pants (the roo) to cuddle with at night.


Pat