Grooming out feathers?

[Jordan01]

My chickens recently got attacked by a hawk, they're both fine but very stressed. They haven't left their coop since. They lost feathers in the attack and so I didn't really look into their feathers thinking out. I saw Pearl grooming her wing and a feather came loose and she kept grooming till it came out. Was this feather pulling or simply molting as it is fall. I always thought feather pulling would be more aggressive than just grooming till a feather came out. Any help is appreciated. (And if you have any hawk advice)

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My guess would be molting, but when under stress feathers do get released as a defense mechanism, so it's always possible it was from the attack.

As far as hawks cover is always good to deter attacks, but if you have chicken hunting hawks keeping your birds confined to a cover run is the only safe thing to do.