What is wrong if a chicken loses feathers on its rear?

Answer 1

Chickens will lose their feathers in a process called a molt or moult. At this time they will usually go off the lay and their comb will shrink and go pale. The chicken can lose their feathers in patches or almost all at once and will look terrible. When the feathers start to grow back it will be all spiky but soon they will look much better and return to laying.

Another time that hens can lose feathers, especially from underneath, is when they go 'broody' or 'clucky'. A broody hen is thinking about hatching eggs. She will spend all day on the nest if she can and she will make a deep clucking sound when you disturb her. The loss of feathers is because she is pulling them out to make the nest nice and also to make direct contact with the eggs and her skin when she sits on them.

A third reason for losing feathers is that the hen or other hens are picking at them. At the back end of the chicken it is probably other hens pecking. This often happens to the lower ranked hens. It can be a very bad habit for hens to get into, so you should try to discourage it. If a hen has just laid an egg (especially if she has laid a very big one) she might have an open cloaca (opening to the reproductive, urinary and digestive tracts in a chicken) that might show some red. If there are no feathers to disguise this she might get picked at by other hens in this area and she could die from this.

Picking can result from bored chickens or an unbalanced diet. Providing something like a piece of pork fat or prawn shells for them to peck at can sometimes help.