Western NY here...

The jake I thought I killed this morning turned out to be a bearded hen. A first for me... Went to butcher her and found that the feathers on her chest were gone. In fact, I didn't have to pull one feather to get to the breast bone and breast meat. Everything else looked ok. No apparent sores, or tumors, and the like... Is it common for hens to be missing feathers on their chest? Did she pluck 'em herself for her nest...

...befuddled.