Chickens eating feathers??

[erinszoo]

So we trimmed some of the chickens wing feathers the other day and as we were doing it all the other chickens were gathered around EATING the feathers as they fell to the ground. Is that normal? Why would they eat the feathers? Will they hurt them? Anyone else's chickens do this? They don't peck at each other or pull feathers from each other so it seemed really bizarre.

 

[seminolewind]

Is there protein high enough?

Personally, my protein is high enough, and I have always seen young birds eat them, but not older birds.Maybe someone else has.

 

[Barrdwing]

We have had feather-eaters for five years, and I always wondered about it. Based on some advice I saw here, I changed up their feed this autumn, and instead of just giving them lay-crumble, I added in Flock Raiser at about a 1:1 ratio with the lay-crumble. There has been a lot less feather-eating this time around. I think they were craving the protein.