Feather Plucking?

[Ted Brown]

I have 30 chickens comprised of 6 year olf ISA Browns, 5 year old barnyard mixes + 5 six week old off springs and 14 White Chanteclers. At the moment all share a 10' by 16' coop and free range most of the day. They are fed a 16% mash and a 22% crumble (about the same amount of each) and have oyster shell available in a separate container.

Some (all?) of the ISA are feather pluckers. I had hoped allowing them to free range every day would stop this behaviour but so far no. The plucking has affected the older birds the most but I am now finding white feathers on the drop board each morning.

I will provide back aprons for them in the next couple of weeks in a effort to prevent the habit.

I am wondering:

1. Is the plucking a learned habit that the other birds will pick up?
2. Is there anyway to stop this?

Thanks for any advice you may provide.

 

[ChickenEnthusiast2000]

Yes other chickens will also start to pluck. You can isolate the plucker's

 

[Aapomp831]

How large is your coop and run? Plucking almost always occurs as a result of high stress. Are they crowded?

 

[aart]

I have 30 chickens comprised of 6 year olf ISA Browns, 5 year old barnyard mixes + 5 six week old off springs and 14 White Chanteclers.

IIRC the ISA's and the mixes have lived together for quite awhile?
..and you added all the others rather recently?
Is the broody mama still in the mix with her chicks(the 6wo's?)?

How old are the Chanties?

Have you seen the ISA's pecking?
Are they pinning them down and plucking them?

Finding feathers could be your older birds molting(are they 14-18 month old?)
Could also be the younger birds having a juvenile molt.

 

[Ted Brown]

IIRC the ISA's and the mixes have lived together for quite awhile?
..and you added all the others rather recently?
Is the broody mama still in the mix with her chicks(the 6wo's?)?

How old are the Chanties?

Have you seen the ISA's pecking?
Are they pinning them down and plucking them?

Finding feathers could be your older birds molting(are they 14-18 month old?)
Could also be the younger birds having a juvenile molt.

ISAs and Mixes are either 1 year old (ISAs) or 10 months old. Both sets of youngsters were integrated about 4 weeks back. Broody mama produced no chicks, she has been out and about for about two weeks,

Chanties are just past six weeks. They and the four week olds are fully integrated; about half are using the roosts along with the original birds. They are still causing changes as to where they roost.

I have not seen pecking but I am now seeing white feathers from the Chanties (on the drop boards so overnight) and also from the 10 month olds; (two of these have bare spots on theirs backs near the tail and bare spots are no showing up on the ISAs. I think they are all too young for molting.

 

[aart]

1 year old (ISAs)

So 12 months exactly?

but I am now seeing white feathers from the Chanties (on the drop boards so overnight)

Juvenile molt.

and also from the 10 month olds; (two of these have bare spots on theirs backs near the tail

You have a cock/erel? Could be treading wear, some bird have weaker feathers that break more easily.......cock/erel could have favorites too.

 

[Ted Brown]

So 12 months exactly?

Juvenile molt.

You have a cock/erel? Could be treading wear, some bird have weaker feathers that break more easily.......cock/erel could have favorites too.

I got the ISAs on Sept 13th 2019 at 19 weeks old. The mixes were hatched October 1 & 2, 2019.

I have one cockerel from the mixes so about 10 months old.

The two mixes with bare spots often have reddish marks in the mornings; I assumed this was from fresh plucking. While I obviously do not see much of what is going on at night my 10 month old cockerel appears to be a perfect gentleman during the day when they are out and about (have not seen a lot of covering or "attacks"). Guessing I have a 50/50 split of pullet to cockerel among the 19 youngsters.

 

[aart]

I got the ISAs on Sept 13th 2019 at 19 weeks old.

So they are about 15-16 months old, if my math is correct.
They should molt this fall, may be starting already as the days are becoming exponentially shorter-they notice this way before most of us do.

Could be plucking/pecking, probably more from crowding rather than feed...
...or could be mating too.

 

[Ted Brown]

...
Could be plucking/pecking, probably more from crowding rather than feed...
...or could be mating too.

The feather loss began when I had 11 birds in 160 sq. ft of coop and another 160 sq. ft. of run space.

 

[aart]

The feather loss began when I had 11 birds in 160 sq. ft of coop and another 160 sq. ft. of run space.

Ah, so before all the additions.
It's really hard to say the exact cause,unless you see it happen(hard to do), and what any 'cure' is Ted.
I almost always have a some bare backed birds, have always figured it was treading, and maybe some picking - even self picking. As long as there's no wounds, I'd worry about it much. Feathers should grow back after a molt.
Mrs. K always says, bare backs bother the keepers more than they bother the birds.