Found a pile of feathers today......

[NellaBean]

....right in front of the coop. A pile of barred cochin feathers.....and 1 of my 3 barred cochin girls was missing. I was walking around the yard with my hands over my eyes and peeking through my fingers looking for a body or more feather piles.....

And next thing I know she comes running around the corner of the garage to get treats.

Um....whoops? I assume one of the roosters finally made an attempt on the girls. The cochin girls have been ignored by all 3 roosters so far. Everybody was acting totally normally, so I don't think that it was any sort of attack...or at least I hope not. There really were a lot of feathers though

I had to throw down extra treats afterwards to make up for the angry talking to I gave the 3 roosters. Guess they weren't slacking after all?

Any other reason for a pile of feathers?

 

[fowler_chick]

molting season

 

[Sunny Side Up]

One of my hens gave me a big scare when I found a pile of her feathers on the floor of the coop one morning. I thought something had grabbed her off the perch, turns out she is having a heavy molt. When I picked her up it was like shaking out a feather pillow, and I could feel the new quills emerging all over her body. Right now she looks like a hedgehog but she'll be lovely once these new feathers grow in.

 

[jwchicklady]

I had the same thing today, a pile of feathers and didn't find the hen till later. she is fine, but has a wound on her behind---she got away from something. The other chickens were hiding in the coop making a lot of noise, so I know it was an attack. You might want to look over her body for any possible wounds.

 

[henryetta]

oh my.....how scarry at first... I gotta tell ya i laughted and laughed when i was reading about you peeking out from between your fingers cause that's exactly what i would be doing...just such a funny 'picture' once i knew your little one was ok. And, i too have a molter right now. only one of my eight though... I thought it really weard just the one, but hopfully she'll be all feathered out before any cool comes to s. cali.

 

[WriterofWords]

One of the Sisters, Little Sissy I think is starting to molt, I'm not really sure. But she walked out into the front yard and shook like a madman and left behind what could have stuffed a small pillow. I'm sure glad it was good outcome for you!

 

[insiderart]

Phew!

 

[chixie]

that happened to my favorite hen except I found her feathers everywhere and she was missing ..i wanted to cry..told the kids she was gone... she showed up later without any tail feathers aparently my hubbys dogs got a hold of her... I am glad your hen is ok

 

[the Old Rebel]

I've got a little hen that drops all of her feathers at once. She runs around like a naked chicken for a few days, then looks like a porcupine when they all start coming back in.

However, I've found a couple of piles of feathers before where one of mine was attacked by a raccoon and another by a hawk. So please do check her for wounds.

BTW, your subject line sure catches the eye. And your story IS hilarious.... since your little one came home ok.

 

[stuckinthecity]

Oh! This sounds like something that happened to me yesterday! I have lost my whole brood of chicks(its not like I could have kept them anyway) That my little EE started to raise... anyway, I think its a predator getting in there at night. So after there are no more chicks to get... surely we thought the predator would go after the big chickens! We could not find mama connie anywhere in the yard! Also, what scared me the worst was there were feathers everywhere in the pen, in clumps; here and there. I was beginning to freak out when I saw her head popping out of the nest box.

So thank goodness my Connies okay. (She has NO tail what-so-ever though. from molting)