Hen losing weight and possibly picking feathers

[FunnyBunny89]

Hi all,

I have a hen who has all the normal spunk and energy in the world. She's just finishing a molt and has been laying off and on, as recently as yesterday. Her appetite is good too, she fills her crop every evening before bed. However, I'm worried because she is definitely on the slim side and has been looking a little rough for a while now.

I've been inspecting poops and hers have been normal, her coloring is good too.

The only other issue is that on her front, she has a bald spot on her neck that had molted and was growing back, but then didn't grow back and appeared to be pecked at and the new feathers were gone. Now they appear to be growing in again, slowly but surely.

Is there something I should use to deworm my chickens? I have two other girls with poopy butts but that's it. I live in Northern California so my options might differ from others. I will try to get a pic if people think it's necessary. Here's an old picture of her, she actually placed in a photo contest on this website a while ago. Now she looks ragged and it makes me sad.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

 

[Chicken_Obsesser]

Could she be going broody? Broody birds will pluck out a portion of their chest feathers to make a broody patch which they place on the eggs.

 

[FunnyBunny89]

Could she be going broody? Broody birds will pluck out a portion of their chest feathers to make a broody patch which they place on the eggs.

No, none of my girls are broody. I should also add that I haven't seen any mites or lice. They had lice two months ago now but I treated them and cleaned the coop and it hasn't been an issue since.