FEATHER PICKING?

[nhorrin]

I have seven 5 month old Dominiques. Five hens and two roosters. I am finding a lot of feathers around the coop. Also notice the tail feathers on the roosters seem to be ragged. Could this be feather picking? See photo. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

Perhaps molting? My babies are currently at the end of molting. Hope some others will chime in too!

 

[samshan21]

Molting

 

[CluckerFamily]

X3 on the molting

 

[rosemarythyme]

Most likely molting but keep an eye on them. If you start seeing very obvious bare patches, especially at base of tail or around vent area, or with broken pinfeathers, that could be a picking issue.

Sorry I didn't get a better photo of this, but the chick below was a victim of feather picking, for comparison.

 

[Pghelp]

'Tis the season. One of my older ladies just finished moulting and my Rhode Island Red looks like Frankenhen because her new feathers are finally growing in. She's still plucking out the old ratty feathers and the new ones are bristling out everywhere. Moult is usually fairly obvious because they look generally kind of ratty all over. For mine the feathers even look faded and old. If it's picking that's usually only in one area and they may show other signs of being bullied or pecked. Hope it's just hideous moulting time!