My Rhode Island Red has had no feathers on her bum for months. When I first noticed it, in April, I found an infected bump with a stuck feather in it. It has been removed and the area cleaned. No more puss. However it is as if she has a bad sunburn there and will not regrow her feathers. It is about the size of my palm. Now other hens come up and peck her chest and eat her feathers (I will be upping the protein and cutting out scraps after reading around). She looks rough but seems happy enough. I am not sure if she is laying or not. I have 7 hens 1 broody and am getting 2-4 eggs a day, low numbers but I think because it is hot. Any suggestions or help for my girls red bottom? Thanks!!
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I too could not apply the Rooster Booster enough to stop the pecking, but it was a great sun blocker. Her red bum was white again in about a week.
I also had a hen that sounds similar to your bird. I did get the hen apron for her, which she wore for several months while the weather was cooler. The feathers on her back have fully feathered out again, and she no longer wears her apron. The tail feathers, though, are still pretty sparse. I was applying Rooster Booster, but only once ever few days, and found it ineffective. I didn't know that I should be re-applying with such frequency as Zachary talks about.
A product called Rooster Booster will help protect the skin from the sun, and should help to keep the other hens from picking at her. You need to apply it more than once daily for it to be effective. The problem is, the other hens now probably have a taste for the blood in the new feathers as they emerge, which would explain why it appears that there is no new growth. This type of thing usually happens to the hen at the lowest point in the pecking order in cooped up conditions. I would remove the bird from the flock by culling or relocating to a larger space. You may be able to find a mating saddle that would cover the area enough to allow for regrowth, or possibly make something out of a light material.
I adopted a hen that had this same problem, and she was fine until my flock learned that there was a treat to be had by pecking at her new feathers. It got to the point where she would seemingly let them do it. I sent her to a friend of mine with a different flock, but have not heard back if there is an improvement.