Tail feathers pulled out by her sisters

[TimAndAndrae]

Last week, our 12 week old girls ganged up on one of their own and picked and pulled out most of the tail feathers of one of their sisters. I separated the picked on one and she seems to be doing well. I also increased the space the other 12 have to relieve what might have been overcrowding.

The injured girl seems to be wanting to join her sisters again but I'm a little concerned that she maybe picked on again due to the looks of the few tattered tail feathers she still has. This is our first flock so I'm unsure if I should trim back her affected feathers. Will her feathers grow back before she molts or will she be funny looking for the better part of a year? Any other suggestions?

 

[cafarmgirl]

You are right to be concerned since once a flock gets it in their heads to peck it can be very hard to break them of it. How many birds, how much space were they in before and how much do they have now?

 

[TimAndAndrae]

We started with 13 in about 16 square feet. They grew faster than I anticipated and I knew they were getting crowed last month. My dad passed away during the holidays and the trip back home set us back as to completing the coop. They now have their second floor to bring it up to about 30 square feet. More important they now have a 12 by 24 fenced run they didn't have last week. They will be getting more space next month that will bring the coop up to about 46 square feet.