Baby (ish) Feather Picker :(

[aart]

Quote: Agrees with OGM here.

...and I hate to be breed biased, but the 2 wynadottes I have are the meanest birds in the flock.

Chickens do go thru 3-4 mini molts before one year of age.
The new pin feathers are full of blood and bleed easily if pecked or broken.
I have a batch right now about 11 weeks old and their coop is full of feathers and they are showing new and different plumage.

I'd up their protein and give them more space.

 

[chickienewbie88]

I just put them on 18% protein flock raiser about a week ago.. ive checked with local people who also raise chickens and theyre all experiencing feather loss in their flock at exact same location as mine.. its been unseasonably hot this early in the summer and all of their conclusions are that its a mini molt caused by heat stress. Starting this week im going to let them free range though.. these wyandottes have been marveously easy and good natured.. from the first day i got them theyve been at ease with me and each other.. as they got bigger an occasional fight would break out in their brooder but i havent seen anything like that in their coop/run.. nothing more than a curious peck here and there if there was a piece of dust on another, etc. I have 5 silkies and bantam cochins about a month behind them and theyve been ridiculously aggressive with me and intolerant of each other so im giving away most of them when theyre big enough to go outside.. ive heard people say their wyandottes can be mean but ive heard more stories of the opposite and everything i read before getting mine said theyre one of the easiest tempered chickens there are.. so i guess environment has a lot to do with it too.. Anywho, my girls all seem to be growing MANY feathers back in the places where they were nearly bald a few days ago and others in my area are saying the same thing.. so we'll see where it goes.