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Obiwan Henobi said:
Hello Everyone!

I am new to this forum. My wife and I began raising chickens last spring so our ladies are now a year old and we have been loving it so far. We have 5 hens (two Rhode Island Reds; two Easter Eggers; and one Black Australorp). We got our chicks from RP Home and Harvest on Easter Weekend of 2022.

My favorite aspect of raising chickens (other than fresh eggs daily) is how responsive they are to us. I never anticipated chickens to have individual personalities. They are far more entertaining that I would have imagined! I am hooked and have already had to resist "chicken math" as I see this year's chicks at local farm stores.

I am a full-time college professor and my wife works part-time with our church. I enjoy woodworking, amateur astronomy, and my wife enjoys nature photography (mostly wildflowers native to Ohio). We have 3 cats and a Great Dane (who by the way was scared of the chicks when we first brought them home!)

I kind of "stumbled upon" this forum while searching for information about feather loss our hens are undergoing right now. I will post pictures later, but they have been loosing feathers around their vents and rumps (one is missing feathers on her lower back next to her tail). We have inspected them for mites/lice but haven't seen any and I suspect it may be feather-picking (but I haven't ruled out pest infestation). They are too young to begin their first molt. I would really appreciate any insight others might have on this.

I look forward to engaging with everyone about all things "chicken"!
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Welcome to BYC!! Could you post pics?
 
sourland said:
Good morning, and welcome to BYC. The feather loss you describe does sound like feather pecking/plucking.
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Thanks! I suspect that is the cause. I haven't seen anything that looks like mites/lice or nits on at the base of feathers. The Chicken Chick website has some really good pix to use for comparison and I see nothing like it on my own birds. My girls have a 7X4 covered run and a larger (7X15) uncovered run for space. However, their indoor roosting/nest box is smaller than I would like for 5 birds. I don't see excessive pecking during the day but they may be pecking in the morning if they aren't let out right away. I will post some pix later today just to get a few more eyes on the situation.
 

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