Bare bottoms

[Mustardfan]

One of my hens has quite a bare bottom, I don’t know if she has mites or if it’s something else? I’m not sure how to know if it’s mites, I wondered if I should treat them for mites anyway? The one with the bare bottom is top of the pecking order, and there’s no problem with feather pecking.

She may just be moulting. Mine do that. I’d check for mites anyway.

There's a number of possible reasons. The key question is whether she is pulling the feathers out herself, or is one of the others doing it. We had one chicken like this and she was self traumatising. There is a depluming mite that chickens can get and it can be difficult to treat. Ours responded well. You would not be able to see this mite, but it is worth checking the chickens for lice (which you can see) and the housing for red mite. It may be behavioural or could be a moult, though they typically start a moult in the autumn.