Missing feather tips any ideas

[The chicken nurd]

So for the last few months I’ve noticed that a few of my birds who are lower in the pecking order where missing the tips of there feathers I didn’t think a lot of it because there’s no blood or bald spots just raggedy feathers but after watching one hen go after another one and pull out some feathers and eat them I wondered if you guys had any ideas on how to stop this behavior or why there doing it
Thanks in advance

 

[rosemarythyme]

Feather picking can be a sign of protein deficiency, boredom, pecking order issues, stress, parasites. Post some photos if you can, but so far doesn't sound very serious if they're just missing a few feather tips and don't have bald patches.

 

[The chicken nurd]

Sorry for the late response here’s some pics
Also should be noted that all 4 birds are from the batch of six hens who I added to the flock about a year 1/2 ago

 

[rosemarythyme]

Interesting, I've never seen chickens only eat feather tips like that. They look a bit worn but not really noticeably eaten, I guess?

You could try pinless peepers on the perpetrators (if you can ID them) to see if that stops the behavior. Personally I'd probably just live with this, if this is as bad as it gets - molting will fix their feathers back up, at least until they get picked at again.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Oh! So I have a hen who has downy spots like that! Is that from having the tips of her feathers broken off? What I mean is, she has patches of down sticking out all over her. Is this why?

ETA: Like in Pic #2. She looked like this last year too for a while before molting.