Bloody backside

[Brucepierce]

Hi Folks,
We have 2 girls who are bloody around they’re butts and have no tail feathers left,
Is anyone using some kind of cover up/garment to protect their rear ends?

 

[sourland]

Feather pecking/plucking can escalate to outright cannibalism. Do an on site search on Pin Less Peepers. It may be necessary to apply these to your birds until these birds heal. Another option is to remove them from the flock and try to determine what is causing the pecking. Possibilities are overcrowding, boredom, low protein levels in their feed. Good luck in resolving this.

 

[Shezadandy]

Your chickens have turned into VAMPIRES. Don't worry, all chickens love blood. Chickens figure out that the blood feathers will spout endless amounts of their favorite substance- blood and it's like their soda fountain. Blood feathers are basically the young feathers that grow after a molt-- then once the feather has finished, the blood supply goes away, but until then ...

I've got 2 separated for this very reason. Because blood is most visible on light colored chickens, they seem to get the worst of it because the red is like a target- so for me, even with 20% protein and huge living spaces, I just take them out of the flock - until the feathers grow back the rest of the way. I've got pens adjacent to my main run so they stay socially acquainted but can't be harmed.