Missing tail feathers

AlyK94

Chirping
9 Years
Apr 27, 2012
3
1
62
Hello all! This is my first flock of chickens so please be patient with me! I was told that my chickens were probably molting when I asked a friend about why they would be missing tail feathers and exposed skin. I excepted this response and didn’t worry...until we found one of my chickens pecked to death. 😢 I see some of the other girls have started to bleed a little as well and desperately don’t want this to happen again! I know once there is a wound the others will naturally want to peck at it. What do I do? Is this molting? If so how do I care for them while molting? I don’t have room to separate any out unless I brought a sick one inside. It’s around 0 degrees lately and dropping below 0 so they haven’t been outside their coop at all. Are they bored? All females and some are starting to lay.
Help! Thanks in advance. 😊
2B057728-D658-4159-B561-53EA985EDE4D.jpeg

F5B8FD9F-CE60-4A8B-8094-3945493FE9AD.jpeg
B757267A-331E-4030-891E-1836A0924D0D.jpeg
 
Chickens need high protein while molting. If they are not getting enough they will peck and consume feathers. Increase their protein in their diet. I bought a bag of feed called feather fixer to help with my late molters. Good luck.
 
Chickens need high protein while molting. If they are not getting enough they will peck and consume feathers. Increase their protein in their diet. I bought a bag of feed called feather fixer to help with my late molters. Good luck.
So this definitely looks like molting? I will definitely increase their protein intake!
 
So this definitely looks like molting? I will definitely increase their protein intake!
i was kinda holding off to see if someone else would give more input cuz im not a vet and i’m not super confident that i know what it is, but here are my thoughts.

it looks a little scabbed to me and mine don’t bleed or look like that when they’re molting (i’ve had chickens for about 10.5 years) have you seen anybody pecking friends’ feathers or anything like that? (chasing friends around, being more aggressive)
what do they eat?
what treats do you give them?
how often/much do they get the treats?
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom