Buff Orpington with weird saddle feathers

[K-Finn]

Hi Everyone,

My buff orpington, 'Tall', has had weird wavy/stringy looking saddle feathers pretty much since she reached maturity (so several months now). She seems in good health otherwise, and is regularly laying eggs. Is this normal for this beed? Or possibly indicative of some deficiency? Or does she need a bath?

Thanks!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It's not normal. Do you have a rooster?

 

[Christine972]

I am raising my first ever small flock of orpingtons and they are about 20 weeks old and not laying yet. My one rooster just tried to mount one of the hens for the first time two days ago. Could the feather damage be from the rooster mounting her? I will be curious to see what the answer turns out to be. I am hoping my rooster won't be too rough because I don't want my hens looking too ragged. Good luck

 

[K-Finn]

I don't have a rooster, but I have seen the two most dominant hens mount our most subordinate hen. This chicken is fairly high ranked though (probably #3 of 7), and I haven't seen any of them mount her.

 

[featherhead007]

I'm so jealous! I always wanted a Buff Orpington for my flock, but i settled with 2 barred rocks instead,,, shown on my avatar pic

 

[K-Finn]

I'm so jealous! I always wanted a Buff Orpington for my flock, but i settled with 2 barred rocks instead,,, shown on my avatar pic

Ah, nice! We have one barred rock in our flock and we love her...she's our alpha bird even though she's one of the smallest, and has by far the biggest personality