How to prevent the breakage of foot feathers?

[alibra]

Getting my first D'uccles tomorrow. Is there any way to help prevent the breakage of foot feathers other than extreme "child-proofing" with shavings? Any solutions to soften them?

 

[Alaskan]

Do you want to keep them perfect for showing?

I have never tried to keep mine perfect, but they do well. Sometimes feathers break, but never to any extreme.

 

[alibra]

Minimal breakage would be nice, not necessarily for showing

 

[Alaskan]

I haven't done anything special for mine, and their feet look nice.

Here are pictures of my coop.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/my-coop-journey


I think I have gotten one broken foot feather on one of my standard Cochins and one on my d'uccles.

They are very good fliers by the way. They love flying up to the five foot perches.

 

[Alaskan]

Actually....i should have added that they don't look nice right now because of mud!

Mud is the problem I have with keeping feathered feet pretty.

And my kids love all over my d'uccles, with no damage (but my youngest is now 5)

 

[alibra]

@Alaskan, your coop looks like a pool house! Super nice! I love the nesting boxes! Hopefully I'll have good luck with the foot feathers. I just don't want any bloody feather breaking issues!

 

[Alaskan]

I totally understand. The one that broke on my Cochin just about gave me heart failure. My Cochins are white. Once I calmed down and picked her up and looked her all over, I saw that it actually hadn't bled that much, but bright red smeared on white is one terrible sight to behold!

The d'uccle that broke a feather wasn't as traumatizing to "me", since it didn't look anywhere near as bad.

 

[alibra]

I can only imagine how terrifying that would be! Like red wine on white carpet vs red wine on brown carpet.... Big visual difference! Ahhh!