Funny feather?

[urbanabanana]

Hello! I wasn't sure if this should go in this category or somewhere else... I have a year-old Columbian Wyandotte named Agnes; she's very standoffish, so I brought her into the house to keep our Salmon Faverolle (Sally) company. As was affixing her diaper this morning, I felt something hard under her wing. It was a feather, curled and hardened and, well... look:

I tried to get as many angles as I could so you could see what I'm trying to describe. (She didn't seem to mind losing it, so at least I don't feel guilty about yanking it out lol)

What's going on with this feather? Is it just a fluke, or is this a common thing for some birds? I can't find anything on google because every time I type in "curled feather on chicken" it suggests I look into frizzles lol

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

How old is this bird? Molting currently? How often does it wear these diapers? Was the feather under them? I would just wait and watch if a new one grows. It's possible there was an infection in the feather shaft or the feather was damaged when growing in.

 

[urbanabanana]

How old is this bird? Molting currently? How often does it wear these diapers? Was the feather under them? I would just wait and watch if a new one grows. It's possible there was an infection in the feather shaft or the feather was damaged when growing in.

She wears a diaper every day in the house, with changes every few hours, and the whole flock did just molt within the last few weeks. This feather was on her wing, I think a secondary, on the underside of her wing near what I can only think of as a chicken-armpit? It may have brushed against the diaper at some point...

But Agnes has only been in the house for a couple of days. With how long this feather was it must have started growing like that while she was still outside...

If there's an infection in the shaft will the new feather come in weird as well? And if it does should I take her to the vet for antibiotics?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I would wait and watch the place it came out to see if it looks hot or infected. Otherwise it could have just been one of those things.