Losing head feathers

[ChickenCrazy8]

I have BPR (named Papagena aka Poppy). She is 1 and a half years old. She has been losing feathers gradually on her head. (the past 3-6 months). I don't think she's molting because otherwise she would be losing feathers other places as well. I don't have a rooster. And there is only one other hen with her that she grew up with. And they don't fight. I checked to see if she had mites but I can see no bugs crawling on her comb or under her wing. Poppy is acting normal, eating, drinking, laying and pecking and scratching like usual. Should I be worried about her losing head feathers or not???
Thanks in advance,
Zoë
p.s if you need a picture I can try to take one.

 

[devora]

It sounds like a partial moult to me. Is she laying?

Play her some Mozart and see if she gets over it.

 

[ChickenCrazy8]

Thanks!
And yes, she is still laying.

 

[Stewzoo]

Is she completely featherless on her head? Is she itchy? It could still be mites, some are very small and hard to see. It could be favus as well. I had a hen recently with it. We sadly had to cull her to prevent it from spreading to the rest of the flock.

http://www.organicvet.co.uk/Poultryweb/disease/favus/favus.htm

 

[ChickenCrazy8]

She is not completely featherless. It is mostly just this one section on her head. I haven't seen any white spots on her.
So it is possible that she has had mites for 3 months and my other hen hasn't got them?
Thanks!

 

[Judy]

If there are mites on one, they are most likely on both. Usually you find them primarily around the vent and under the wings. They are hard to see, and some varieties only get on them at night.

This could also be feather picking by the other hen. And sometimes they will lay at least some during a molt, especially if it's going slow.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

 

[citychickx6]

My personal trials with the feather loss and what I found to be the cause:

Feathers missing on heads of 2 hens. No mites no lice ... treated just in case... no change.
Feather loss progresses very slowly to neck and back area... no rooster so that is not it... no mites no lice... treated again just in case.
Feather loss on 2 more birds on the underside... again no mites and no lice... stripped and sanitized the coop.
No improvement.

Please note I have 3 coops and they are very close together with only one coop having issues.

Two hens went broody on me one in the affected coop and one in a well feathered coop.

Isolation in broody breakers and within 2 weeks I see new feathers growing on the sad and very shabby hen.

Root cause IMO is the other hens picking at her when she is sleeping.
I have the next hen in the isolation chamber to regrow feathers as she is in poor shape with winter coming soon.
Hen one (with good feathers to begin with) is back in her flock.

I will continue to isolate until I have found the meanie. Sadly I believe it to be my best layer.
OH my broody breaker is a 2 room hutch that is 30 inch x 48 inch wire bottomed with metal roofing and 2x4 framing that stands 6' tall.
Thanks to BYC I knew what I had to do when the sitting lasted well into the second month.

 

[ChickenCrazy8]

Thanks for all the help and Information!!!!!!

Today when I went outside to the coop. I saw a some feathers lying around. I think what is happening is my hens are molting
And I figured out when my hen started to lose feathers on her head was in the winter when they were having trouble with frost bite. So It could be from frostbite.
BUT I will go and sprinkle some Diamatious earth (excuse my spelling!) in their coop. And will keep checking them for mites/lice.

 

[HouseCat]

I had some roosters last winter whos' necks were mysteriously balding. One of my Old English bantie hens was the culprit. The only thing I could come up with was maybe she had a protein deficiency. I switched all the birds over to Gamebird crumbles with 20+% protein and that seemed to do the trick. I figured the extra protein would soothe the little hens cravings and also help the boys grow their neck feathers back. Good luck!

 

[xoxodanamarie]

My Peanut, 2 1/2 year old Ameraucana, has been going through the same thing. She stopped laying and I attribute it to a molt as she shares a coop with her 4 healthy sisters and a brand new rooster who still doesn’t understand his function (he’s adorable!).