Help please!!! my roo is loosing his tail feathers!!!!!

[roostercogburn2]

My roo (boss) is an Ameraucana and is my show bird. All the sudden he is loosing his long tail feathers and is showing no signs of molting. He is the only one of my birds to be loosing feathers. it is not a possibility that a predater was at him because my coop and run have cement floors and I have wire top to bottom of my set up. What could it be and what could i do

my boy befor he lost his feathers.

he only has two tail feathers now

 

[barbiegirl]

Is it possible the other chickens are pulling them out? My rooster doesn't have 1 tail feather. My girls are always pulling them out.

 

[roostercogburn2]

No they never have done that before and it was very rapid that he lost them my other chickens are young and extremly docile when it comes to old boss

 

[jak2002003]

Have you seen the missing feathers on the coop floor?

I think that either the other hens (or just one hen) are picking them out.

Can you catch him up and have a close look at his tail area? Does is seem red and sore, or normal. You might see the pin feathers starting to re grow.

 

[RedDrgn]

I'd definitely check for evidence of parasites, but it could well be a molt. Not all chickens molt everything all at once. Our roo certainly hasn't. When he first started, his whole tail and then his flight feathers on his wings fell out. He looked ridiculous, but by the time they started coming back in, he started dropping his saddle feathers....then those started coming back and it moved to his back and chest....now it's his hackles. Keep in mind that he started this mid-August, so he's making quite a process out of it.

 

[Tmaxson01]

My rooster lost all of his tail feathers due to molt. They are all growing back now.

 

[roostercogburn2]

I have checked him out and He isnt sore at all around where his feathers were and i havent seen any feather pins yet. How long does it take feathers to regrow approximatly. because I also have a new second roo and he is seperate from Boss and the owner I bought him from said his tail feathers were taken by a vermint of some sort a month before i bought him. And they still havent even come back in as pins will they ever grow back?

 

[RedDrgn]

I have checked him out and He isnt sore at all around where his feathers were and i havent seen any feather pins yet. How long does it take feathers to regrow approximatly. because I also have a new second roo and he is seperate from Boss and the owner I bought him from said his tail feathers were taken by a vermint of some sort a month before i bought him. And they still havent even come back in as pins will they ever grow back?

If there are no sores or parasites, then be patient. Some chickens replace feathers pretty quickly and some take longer. It took about 1.5 months before our roo's tail started coming back in in any appreciable way and there are a few sickle feathers that are still growing out to full length.

From what I've been told and the experience I had with one chicken who had a bunch of feather plucked in the spring/early summer, the feathers won't be fully replaced until the chicken molts. So that could be any day now, or not for another few months considering the time of year.

 

[roostercogburn2]

thanks

 

[jak2002003]

It may take a month or 2 before the tail is re grown, but you shout start to see the new pin feathers growing after a couple of weeks.