Feather picking (sort of)

[jeffrd]

My family just bought 5 one-year-old red sexlinks from the local egg lady last week - when we went to pick them up we discovered most of them were practically featherless due to feather picking, assumedly due to overcrowding. So now we have 5 "rescue" chickens, giving them lots of layer mash and water, and they seem much happier already and are not picking anymore. We can see new pinfeathers coming in where the old ones were ripped right out, but my concern is the ones where the barbs have been stripped off the quill but the quill is still attached. Will these regrow this season (it is now May 9) or will they be stuck with them until next molt? If they're stuck with them, will they be able to cope with a Canadian winter in an unheated (but well-insulated) coop?

 

[karlamaria]

You might want to check for mites lice or other bugs also. Things will grow back but you still want to be sure to check out for anything on there skin or feathers.​

 

[jeffrd]

Thanks - I have given them a quick look-over and haven't seen any obvious parasites, but to be honest I have been avoiding handling them as they have been a bit agitated by our presence. I think their previous owner was a little more hands-off than we have been with our birds and I've been trying to avoid stressing them too much. Now that they've settled in I will take a closer look. I did notice one of them seemed to be a bit scabby on her back right near the base of her tail - not sure yet if that that's just a result of pecking or if there's something else going on. My hope is that the extra space, ample access to food and water, etc. will help them all get back to health, but I don't want to leave any undiagnosed problems lurking out there.