Hens feather lose and wound at base of tail, no rooster

[Lgrace]

Hello,

We are having an issue with our chickens and feather loss at the base of the tail. We have 9 hens and no roosters. I know we have no roosters because sometimes we get 9 eggs. 4 of the 9 chickens have some father loss and the Easter Egger has a wound as well as shown below. We treated it with a chicken wound spray.

The chickens have a 6x4 coop with 2 nesting boxes, and a 120 square foot covered run and around 1,000 square foot uncovered run.

It's been going on for about 2 weeks. All the chickens are still eating and drinking normally and laying well. All the hens are around 1 year old. I haven't noticed any picking behavior or mating. I did install a sweeter Heater Coop and Brooder plate around 1 month ago. Because of the negative temps we were having in Colorado.

Any ideas would be great. Let me know if you need more photos or Info.

Thank you for any assistance.

 

[sourland]

It looks like feather pecking/plucking to me.

 

[coach723]

You've either got feather picking going on, or you have a dominant hen that is doing mounting behavior. Feather picking often happens on the roosts when they go in for the night. Look at your best looking birds with no feather damage, one (or more) of them is likely the culprit. I see a red bird and a grey bird in your pictures that look pretty undamaged. Sometimes re doing your roosting layout or adding a roost can stop it. How many feet of roost space do they have?

 

[Lgrace]

Thank you for the help. I think your right they are feather plucking. I have 8 ft of roosting space in the coop split between 2 roosts as shown. After I added the heating panel one roost was much warmer and i believe they started fighting over the warmer roost. Yes, the Red chicken and all 3 grey aren't missing any feathers.

I removed the heating panel because its getting warmer now and the issues I might try hanging it differently next year.

Sadly Pansy the Easter Egger had a bleeding wound today so i removed her from the flock and sprayed it with a cleaner. I attached a photo of the wound. Anything else I can do for her? Also when can I put her back with the flock? Also would a chicken saddle help?

 

[coach723]

1 foot of roost space per bird is usually considered a minimum, some say 8-10 inches per bird, but it really depends on your individual birds. Some birds like to cuddle and squish together, some birds demand more space. Since yours are behaving this way, more space would be better. Even one dominant bird can make a space too small. If you can add a roost, that would help. I would also raise the back one up a bit so they are at different levels so when they are on it they are less nose to butt with the ones on the next one. Just like coop and run space, more roost space is better than less. I don't know where you are in the world, but normal, healthy, adult birds don't usually need extra heat.
I would apply plain neosporin, or plain triple antibiotic ointment to the wound daily until it's healing and would not put her back until it's healed enough to not be a risk of being pecked again. Blood or redness will draw pecking and make it much worse. I also wouldn't use a saddle until it's healed enough that the saddle won't rub on it and irritate it more. If you can put a wire crate in the run, I would put her in that so she can still see the flock and be seen by them, it will reduce stress and make reintegrating her easier.