Should I trim the tail feathers

[aart]

Last week, our 12 week old girls ganged up on one of their own and picked and pulled out most of the tail feathers of one of their sisters. I separated the picked on one and she seems to be doing well. I also increased the space the other 12 have to relieve what might have been overcrowding.

The injured girl seems to be wanting to join her sisters again but I'm a little concerned that she maybe picked on again due to the looks of the few tattered tail feathers she still has. This is our first flock so I'm unsure if I should trim back her affected feathers. Will her feathers grow back before she molts or will she be funny looking for the better part of a year? Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance

Right now there are ten in an area about 4 by 6. They're about 16 weeks old. The injured girl is in a 2 by 4 space adjoining the others. The main flock now has a second floor where their roosts are as well as a 12 by 24 run they didn't have when the pecking happened. So I have increased the space they have.

They are getting 18% on their feed and I am giving the injured one some dry cat food to boost her protein intake.

10 total or 22?

4x6 coop is very small for 10....very, very, very small for 22.
Run sounds good for 10 but only ok for 22.

I think your pecking problem is partially due to overcrowding.

 

[centrarchid]

Whether birds are 12 or 16 weeks old, they should replace current tail feathers one more time before reaching adulthood.

 

[TimAndAndrae]

We lost 2 to other reasons. The total is eleven and they should be sharing a 4x8 floor space. The injured one's tail is looking much better now. Next week I should be able to remove the temp wall that splits the coop.

The differance in age is because I first posted in the first aid forum and when I didn't get any replays I cut and pasted the post here without changing how long ago it happened.

I agree the cause was due to over crowding but that isn't what I was asking about.

Thank you for your replies.