Hens with sores at the base of their tale feathers

[10layingladies]

I have five RRs that I've noticed their tail feathers are thinning (some worse than others) and now a few of them have bald places with little sores....what is this and what do I need to do? The white leghorns aren't having this issue.

 

[dkaval54]

Maybe pecking each other?

 

[teach1rusl]

No roosters or cockerels in your flock??? The only other thing I can think of it that you have a feather plucker (maybe a feather eater)...maybe more than one. You may need to spend time observing them to find the culprit(s).

 

[10layingladies]

nope, no roos ... if it is that they are pecking at each other what can I do about it?

 

[amberflea]

usually feather plucking is a sign of being overcrowded, do they have ample room, Also, have you checked for mites at all?

 

[10layingladies]

I appreciate the responses! I have done a little more research on feather pecking (i'm super new to all this and had no idea chickens would do this to each other). Images online match what my birds rear-ends look like. Space wise they have 12sqft per bird in addition to the hen house. My thoughts are they are bored. There is no longer any grass on the ground of the run and it's too big/fixed to move. Instead of putting their food in a feeder tonight I just spread it all over the place (i usually just put a little on the ground and the rest in the feeder). I'm also going to invest in some hanging wire baskets to put fresh greens in so they can entertain themselves a little with that. I read somewhere about anti-feather pecking spray but I only saw where you could get it in the UK. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. As far as mites go...I use DE in all the bedding/nesting boxes and try to sprinkle it in all the places I know they take dust baths. Someone told me to use Seven Dust on them but I'm leary of that.