feathers around the coop

[newchik715]

I am seeing 20 or so feathers on the coop floor but none of the chickens look particularly pecked at. no bald spots or sore spots. no bleed. so why the feather loss?

 

[Lesa]

How many chickens do you have? That seems like a lot- I have 22 chickens and might have 4 or 5 feathers in the coop??

 

[newchik715]

i have six and the feathers could only be coming from three of them as they are different breeds. but there is no sign of feather loss on the birds themselves?

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

Sometimes in a scuffle someone will get feathers torn out. That is a lot, but consider that the patch of feathers on the back just above the tail are loosly anchored to help them escape predators. I had a raccoon go after one of my hens, and though there had to be at least 50 feathers in the yard, the only place you noticed them missing on her body was where it yanked out tail feathers and mostly I think that was due to color (she's a columbian, so the loss of black feathers is noticable).
I wouldn't worry too much. Even having half her tail yanked out, my Archie survived (thanks to my dog's heroic rescue and guarding!) and you barely could tell what happened to her.

 

[thornwing]

is one molting?

 

[newchik715]

I do not know if it is a molt...do they molt as young as ten weeks?

 

[Gypsy07]

Chickens don't moult in their first year. What you might be seeing is the pecking order being settled. If you've just moved young birds out to the big coop, they'll get pecked on a bit for the first few weeks. If they're all young birds it could still be the same thing. I figure it's best to just let them sort it out amongst themselves and not interfere too much, as long as nobody's being seriously bullied...

 

[elmo]

Quote:
They do go through what's called juvenile molt, although it really isn't a molt. It's just their chick feathers being replaced by more adult plumage.

 

[MicheleE]

I will second elmo's post. They do lose feathers at about 7-11 weeks. They won't be bald and it's pretty subtle but there is feather loss. We're going through it right now.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Silkies particularly seem to lose feathers 7-11 or so weeks. My silkie pens are full of feathers right now. Of course, none of them fully molt...just drop feathers pretty constantly.