- Aug 22, 2011
- 101
- 1
- 91
Hi everyone 
My flock consists of 7 chickens, all hens - 2 Buff Orpies, 2 RIR's, 2 OEG/Golden Seabright bantams, and 1 Barred Rock. Currently, I have one of my Buff Orpies, Phoebe, seperated in a small coop that we built her, as she had severe injuries from being pecked at by the others. She is recovering fairly well, but now there is another problem...the same thing is happening again with the other 6 girls.
I've noticed that one of my RIR's, Penny, has the same signs that Phoebe had when she was being pecked at. At the base of her tail, the quills of her feathers are showing, also, her bottom is missing a lot of feathers. Actually, on almost all of my girls, besides the 2 bantams, Piper & Chloe and the other RIR Mable, their are red, featherless, and irritated.
Also, I have seen my other Buff Orpie, Emmy, darting around the run, which Phoebe did when she was being pecked at, though she hasn't shown any other signs - like the quills showing.
When I asked one of my friends who has owned chickens in the past for some ideas as to what could be going on, she gave me a couple of possibilities - the first being that my girls have lice, which would explain the red, featherless bottoms. She also said that the size of my coop could be part of the problem. I agree with her that it is too small, and at the begining of the summer we had already made plans to build a bigger coop for them.
So, what do yous guys think could be going on? I was planning on hatching a couple baby chicks this summer to add to my flock, but I decided against it as I feel that introducing new chickens would only make matters worse. I have included pictures of my coop, Penny's tail, and an example of the bare, red bottom (my Barred Rock, Lacy).
Thank you for any advice or suggestions! It's greatly appreciated
My flock consists of 7 chickens, all hens - 2 Buff Orpies, 2 RIR's, 2 OEG/Golden Seabright bantams, and 1 Barred Rock. Currently, I have one of my Buff Orpies, Phoebe, seperated in a small coop that we built her, as she had severe injuries from being pecked at by the others. She is recovering fairly well, but now there is another problem...the same thing is happening again with the other 6 girls.I've noticed that one of my RIR's, Penny, has the same signs that Phoebe had when she was being pecked at. At the base of her tail, the quills of her feathers are showing, also, her bottom is missing a lot of feathers. Actually, on almost all of my girls, besides the 2 bantams, Piper & Chloe and the other RIR Mable, their are red, featherless, and irritated.
Also, I have seen my other Buff Orpie, Emmy, darting around the run, which Phoebe did when she was being pecked at, though she hasn't shown any other signs - like the quills showing.
When I asked one of my friends who has owned chickens in the past for some ideas as to what could be going on, she gave me a couple of possibilities - the first being that my girls have lice, which would explain the red, featherless bottoms. She also said that the size of my coop could be part of the problem. I agree with her that it is too small, and at the begining of the summer we had already made plans to build a bigger coop for them.
So, what do yous guys think could be going on? I was planning on hatching a couple baby chicks this summer to add to my flock, but I decided against it as I feel that introducing new chickens would only make matters worse. I have included pictures of my coop, Penny's tail, and an example of the bare, red bottom (my Barred Rock, Lacy).
Thank you for any advice or suggestions! It's greatly appreciated
Last edited:
