Bare breast in broody chicken

Having removed Ruby from her 24 eggs and wandered round the garden a few times with her under my arm, I noticed her breast bone was bare and wondered if that's what broody hens do, pluck their feathers out, that is?



Title  modified so it doesn't sound so rude

I have never seen evidence (nestbox full of feathers) of self plucking with my two broodies so i would guess it was hormonal feather loss.
The underside does look 'oven ready'.

I'm so glad I'm not a chicken or a rabbit

At least chickens and rabbits don't have to worry about stretch marks and all the saggy bits that come as an added extra and never go away