Mitchell'sCoop
Chirping
- May 18, 2018
- 26
- 37
- 64
I recently added four 9 week old LF Cochins to my flock. After getting them home I noticed 3 of them are missing a ton of feathers on their rear ends. (One is a roo and the other two are pullets, only one of the four seem to have all their feathers). I'm very new to chickens but checked for any fleas or mites and do not see any signs of them on the birds. They all seem to eat and drink just fine and seem completely healthy. I have just introduced them to the rest of the flock and the new birds have had a couple bouts of grabbing onto the others feathers and not letting go. I know they have to go through and establish the new pecking order and such, the incidents haven't been too bad and there hasn't been any feather loss. I have noticed the new birds tend to peck at each other sometimes where they are missing the feathers (the little roo is missing the most). Is this possibly due to feather picking/plucking, mini moulting, bullies within their old flock? I'm not sure what I can do to help them grow their feathers back or if it was a bully at the old home doing it to them will it become a learned behavior, will they continue to do it to all the other birds? Any advice? Thanks so much for any help you can give!!