ELLIEs bellie

[lyn]

hi everyone nice to see the weather hasnt changed it is still raining oh what a glorious summer any way i have just noticed my ellie has got a very bald bellie she is eating well and comes out with all the othet girls can any body help me out please she has been a bit broody but not as bad as tegan was.
many thanks
lyn

[Bramble-Poultry]

self plucking of the belly could indicate a calcium deficiency if she is eating the feather quills. see jennies post (my wife) on calcium deficiency treatment.

in the meantime, give her a coupleof pots of natural yoghurt as that can help balance them out. jennie will beback online soon and give you all the chicken health 101 course again!!

[RichmondHens]

If she has been recently broody then she may have plucked her feathers out because of that. Broodies often take the feathers off their chest/bellies to have closer contact with the eggs.

[Jardiniere]

i have a hen who has a bald patch on her chest/stomach - it went bald when she was broody and has not grown back but she seems fine...

[Bramble-Poultry]

my first reaction was it is highy likely if she has been broody that she plucked the feathers out as Richmond said.

Other causes are irritation - this can be caused by mites/lice etc. Salt deficiency, feather plucking for no reason is quite often due to lack of salt in the diet and heat stress - birds will pluck feathers to aid with cooling - usually they pluck their bellies then lie on the cool grass. (but in this weather highly unlikely!)

Belly feathers seem to take ages to grow back - but they will. Just keep your eyes on her and if she is continuing to do it then investigate an underlying cause, if she seems not to be then it was probably because she was broody.

[walldanzig]

Both mine pulled the feathers out when they went Broody. That was about two months ago and they have just started growing back