Broken foot feathers on Silkies

[KatyS]

My daughter has three Silkies for her 4-H project. Some of their wing feathers are broken at the ends and either the foot feathers are broken or possibly growing in?? We let them out during the day, but since two are broody, they just find a place to sit all day. The fair is in the middle of June & we are concerned they won't do well with these feathers. Some people say to pluck them, but doesn't that hurt them? Do you pull it out, including the end quill part? What about the ones on the wings? Two of them have been broody for over a month, so we just started a broody box and separated them - also bathed them and letting them dry outside (it's very warm today). They were pulling a LOT of feathers to line the EMPTY nesting boxes!! My daughter's 4-H leader knows nothing about Silkies but said the broken feathers are very bad!! Any help would be much appreciated!!

 

[couuntrygirl13]

Ive heard to pluck the feathers 6-8 weeks prior to the show because it takes that long to grow them back. To stop breakage, you need to put them on a lot of bedding (woodchips) and separate them if possible.

 

[KatyS]

Thank you! I gave away one of our Silkies - saw that she was pecking too much at the others and think this may be a big part of the problem. Plucked a few feathers and put wood chips down - will hope for the best!!