Balding tail feathers

[laurelburrola]

I have a flock of seven laying hens and half of them are going bald around the tops of their tail feathers. I'm thinking they may be pecking each other but I've seen no evidence of this. Can anyone give any advice on what this might be and if there's any way to prevent this?

 

[kidcody]

A couple of things may be going on. Chickens will peck at each other if there is a lack of enough protein in there diet. When one starts the pecking the others will follow. You could feed them extra protein to see if this helps (can cat food, scrambled eggs, sunflowers seed etc.) Also it could be poultry lice. They are very hard to see but are very itchy and can really drive the chicken uncomfortable. This can be treated with "Sevin" dust powder found at your local garden center. Good luck in getting this under control!