Broken tail feathers..any possible way this occurred naturally?

[angiejbrown]

My rooster was fine, with all his feathers on Sunday night. Monday I came outside and he appears to have his tail feathers cut off ( due to the straight edge) I suspect someone has entered my privacy fence and coop area and cut his feathers off. Thank goodness he’s not been injured also he’s not bleeding. My question: is there any possible way, this could have occurred naturally? He was not caught in the fence anywhere, and the missing feathers were not found in his run. I suspect it wasn’t an animal due to the straight edge of the feathers.

 

[DobieLover]

My rooster was fine, with all his feathers on Sunday night. Monday I came outside and he appears to have his tail feathers cut off ( due to the straight edge) I suspect someone has entered my privacy fence and coop area and cut his feathers off. Thank goodness he’s not been injured also he’s not bleeding. My question: is there any possible way, this could have occurred naturally? He was not caught in the fence anywhere, and the missing feathers were not found in his run. I suspect it wasn’t an animal due to the straight edge of the feathers.

Those feathers certainly do appear to have been cut.
Sounds like it's time to put a lock on the gate.

 

[azygous]

Going by your description of the feathers cut off straight, there is a scenario where this could occur. Yes, a malicious human who has a grudge against you could have entered the yard and scissored off the rooster's tail. But a predator could have done the same thing.

Is your yard totally fenced and gated? Could a large dog have gotten in? Can you see where any of the tail feathers have been yanked completely out? Any featherless spaces with skin exposed?

Long ago, I had two roosters and I was always trying to keep them from killing each other. They occupied the same coop with a partition down the middle. I would leave one coop door open at a time so one rooster was always able to come and go. One day, I came out and found the outside rooster with most of his tail feathers missing. I figured a bear had come by and seen the rooster exposed and taken advantage. Luckily, the rooster was uninjured.

Unless you have in mind someone you know who wants revenge on you for something, that scenario seems too unlikely. Dogs at large, on the other hand, are all too common, in fact, they are the most common chicken predator besides hawks. A much more likely scenario is a large dog chasing your rooster and he took a big bite out of his tail trying to catch him and eat him.

 

[angiejbrown]

I agree! I’m also putting out a trail cam!

 

[angiejbrown]

Going by your description of the feathers cut off straight, there is a scenario where this could occur. Yes, a malicious human who has a grudge against you could have entered the yard and scissored off the rooster's tail. But a predator could have done the same thing.

Is your yard totally fenced and gated? Could a large dog have gotten in? Can you see where any of the tail feathers have been yanked completely out? Any featherless spaces with skin exposed?

Long ago, I had two roosters and I was always trying to keep them from killing each other. They occupied the same coop with a partition down the middle. I would leave one coop door open at a time so one rooster was always able to come and go. One day, I came out and found the outside rooster with most of his tail feathers missing. I figured a bear had come by and seen the rooster exposed and taken advantage. Luckily, the rooster was uninjured.

Unless you have in mind someone you know who wants revenge on you for something, that scenario seems too unlikely. Dogs at large, on the other hand, are all too common, in fact, they are the most common chicken predator besides hawks. A much more likely scenario is a large dog chasing your rooster and he took a big bite out of his tail trying to catch him and eat him.

My chickens are completely fenced in... a coop with a completely enclosed run, inside a privacy fence, and the rooster was still in the coop when I discovered him.. so it definitely wasn’t a dog. The feathers are cut off or broken, none are just pulled out.. there is no exposed skin anywhere anywhere. He is separated with a wire partition from a very aggressive hen, and hypothetically even if he had backed his tail feathers up and they poked through the wiring, and she somehow got at the ,I don’t see how this would happen all over night, and she wouldn’t be able to leave a straight cut like it appears.

 

[EggWalrus]

Sounds like your boy has not just been hen pecked, but also hen plucked!

If he was in a pen like you described, another bird probably did the dirty deed. Plus depending on how old he and his feathers are, he could be molting or just getting old brittle feathers (especially if he hasn't had his first adult molt).
Short of being some young punk ass kid, it would take a lot of guts for an adult to go in there with scissors, catch a rooster, and cut its tail off. And if it was an adult, be careful, it would take someone seriously mentally ill to do that kind of sick stuff. Other than a kid, why would anyone do such a thing? You haven't pissed off the wrong person, have you?
Just kidding! even if someone got pissed off, it would take a really sick person to mutilate a defenseless animal like that. Hopefully, it was just some other birds that did it.

 

[EggWalrus]

Can't see his spurs or the rest of his feather's to guage age. How old is he? He looks like a Rhodie mix.
Can you get us some better pics?

 

[Saaniya]

My rooster was fine, with all his feathers on Sunday night. Monday I came outside and he appears to have his tail feathers cut off ( due to the straight edge) I suspect someone has entered my privacy fence and coop area and cut his feathers off. Thank goodness he’s not been injured also he’s not bleeding. My question: is there any possible way, this could have occurred naturally? He was not caught in the fence anywhere, and the missing feathers were not found in his run. I suspect it wasn’t an animal due to the straight edge of the feathers.

My rooster lost all his tail feathers during molt then comes back after molt

 

[azygous]

It's times like these that a game cam or security cam would have sure been nice to have. Without it we are left to make guesses and deductions.

It boils down to what is physically possible. Without any feathers lying around to support the idea the rooster accidentally broke his tail off himself, and the rooster being completely enclosed to rule out any predators getting to him or even near him, it had to have been someone entering your run.

So, the evidence, although flimsy, points to a human predator. Who hates this rooster? Who has he annoyed with his crowing?

 

[EggWalrus]

Chickens have been known to eat feathers also.

Do you have any pics of him before his feathers disappeared?