eating feathers??????

[delfargo]

my chickens (11 weeks old) are in the midst of thier first molt and there are feathers all over the place. this weekend i noticed some of them playing with, and then EATING the feathers. what's up with that? i can't imagine it's good for them (pretty hard to digest, i would think). should i be cleaning up the feathers from the coop & run? is this "feather eating" normal? i've only seen a few of them do it, and have never read anything about this behavior. i just think it's kinda wierd. any thoughts? thanx.

 

[HorseFeathers]

As long as they aren't pecking each others' feathers off, it is fine and actually pretty good for them.

 

[nittanyxi]

Mine are 4 months and doing the same thing. as long as everyone looks happy and healthy I'm not going to worry about it.