Melody102
In the Brooder
So I am helping someone who has just gotten chickens. He has never had chickens before but I have a bit of experience with quail. It’s been about 1 week now (he bought them fully matured) and of the 15 chickens I’d say about 8 have feathers missing at their tails or back. I’ve read this can be from an overly active rooster but he doesn’t have a rooster.
Could this be just from the ladies getting used to each other and plucking out some feather to show who’s boss? (with quail you have to be super slow cause they can be vicious if they don’t like each other!)
Should I introduce chicken saddles to prevent this or would this make the chickens more likely to pick on the ones with different colours?
Is there anything else I could check to make sure it’s not some sort of disease going around?
The Chickens are still very skittish and have a large area with a steep hill to escape any catching attempts, advice is appreciated on how to catch them!
Could this be just from the ladies getting used to each other and plucking out some feather to show who’s boss? (with quail you have to be super slow cause they can be vicious if they don’t like each other!)
Should I introduce chicken saddles to prevent this or would this make the chickens more likely to pick on the ones with different colours?
Is there anything else I could check to make sure it’s not some sort of disease going around?
The Chickens are still very skittish and have a large area with a steep hill to escape any catching attempts, advice is appreciated on how to catch them!