Weird feather growth and egg laying!

[Buckwheat77]

Hello folks,

You have been so amazing at helping so far soooo... another first time chicken owner question!

We are in a crazy cold front (I live in Ontario, Canada). One of the girls, Gerty, started laying about a week ago. She is about 7 months old. Just as the extreme cold wet in. In 7 days she has only laid 3 eggs ( day 1, day 4, day 5). We’re on day 8 and no egg yet and no signs that there is one coming.

I also noticed about 4 days ago some weird feathers growing on her back just above her tail. She’s eating and drinking fine. I have a cameras in the coop and run so I can monitor her. None of the other girls are picking on her, she was bottom of the pecking order buuuut - I have also noticed that she keeps pecking feathers from the other girls butts and eating them. She is in layer feed currently. I have been trying to boost her protein (boiled egg, yogurt, mealworms) for about a week now. But still the butt pecking.

Any advice would be super helpful. Thank you in advance - I attached pictures of her feathers (maybe she is going through a winter mini moult only in her butt because of weather????? Not even sure this is possible ). No bare spots or weird feathers anywhere except just above her tail.

 

[Buckwheat77]

@TheOddOneOut

 

[JedJackson]

How big are the coop and run, and how many birds occupy that space?

 

[Buckwheat77]

@JedJackson There are only 4 chickens all girls. Boredom may be part of the issue - their coop and covered run is big enough I think - covered run only is roughly 15 X 12 feet. We have one of the wire hanging treat things, a couple treat balls, a sand pit, a dirt pit. Occasionally I’ll put a mirror in there and they stare at themselves. They are usually our free ranging in a huge yard for a lot of the day but the whipping cold wind has made them stay inside their covered run a lot more. I attached a picture of the inside of the coop. Hard to see because of the angle but there are two more bars on the other side as well so they can essentially all have their own place to sleep if they wanted to

 

[Alaskan]

@JedJackson There are only 4 chickens all girls. Boredom may be part of the issue - their coop and covered run is big enough I think - covered run only is roughly 15 X 12 feet. We have one of the wire hanging treat things, a couple treat balls, a sand pit, a dirt pit. Occasionally I’ll put a mirror in there and they stare at themselves. They are usually our free ranging in a huge yard for a lot of the day but the whipping cold wind has made them stay inside their covered run a lot more. I attached a picture of the inside of the coop. Hard to see because of the angle but there are two more bars on the other side as well so they can essentially all have their own place to sleep if they wanted to

I worry that you are seeing the start of cannibalism.

Sooo.......

Your run sounds like a great size. ..

I would put up wind blocks on 2 or 3 sides of the run to encourage them to spend as much time as possible in the run.

Then toss in a mountain of.... hay, dried leaves... whatever you can get your hands on....

And reform it to mountain shape every day to keep them busy.

Change the feed to at least 18% protein, 20 might be safer...

And all treats are to be hidden in the mountain so it takes them TIME to find them all

 

[aart]

Looks like she got picked at too.
Those weird feathers, not sure but could either be picking or some weird genetic thing.

 

[Buckwheat77]

Thank you for the suggestions! I’ve piled a big mountain with some treats, added another fresh dirt bath and - it’s warming up so she got out for a loooooong time today. Only saw her peck once. Looks like boredom - or winter blues. Looks like I’ll be making a swing or some other contraption to try and keep them busy !!! ❤
Edit: my run is covered on 3 sides already so I left it as is!

 

[Buckwheat77]

Not sure about feathers yet. I looked all through them today and there just seems to be some new ones growing in Kinda fuzzy. I will keep an eye on it and update in a week or so!

 

[Buckwheat77]

LOL update: chickens are so funny. It seems they love a pile of nonsense - even with no treats in it more than anything. They dug around in there for hours the last couple days. Great and easy fix while it’s super cold - thank you @Alaskan