Weird feathers- Should I be concerned?

[newchikenlady]

Do you know why these weird feathers are growing in?

She is 9 months old and hasn’t molted yet. Her energy level and egg laying seem fine. I just don’t know if this is an early sign of something I should be concerned about.

Any thoughts or advice?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I don't. My Cornish bantam cockerels have that going on too, but it doesn't seem to cause any problems. Hers might just be getting ready to molt. Is she with a male?

 

[CluckerFamily]

Do you know what breed she is?

 

[azygous]

I'm guessing you're talking about those ragged saddle feathers. If that's the area of your concern, it appears to be a form of feather picking damage I call "beak raking".

To confirm that this is damage and not something else, you need to observe your flock when they're loafing around the run. Watch to see if an older, higher ranking hen comes over to this one while she's sitting and resting and stands over her while drawing her beak across these saddle feathers.

I've seen this go on in my flock. After time and repeated "raking", the feathers become teased and almost kinky, a far cry from how they began. Your hen will have to molt before they can be replaced. Meanwhile, verify this is happening and try to discourage the behavior by interrupting the hen doing it with a strong peck on her back with your fingers.

If I'm wrong and this isn't what you're concerned about, then it would help us if you would describe in words what we should be looking at.

 

[newchikenlady]

I don't. My Cornish bantam cockerels have that going on too, but it doesn't seem to cause any problems. Hers might just be getting ready to molt. Is she with a male?

Ok thats good, I hope mine doesn’t have problems either! I read that hens don’t do a full molt in their first year which is why it confuses me.
No, we don’t have any roosters.

 

[newchikenlady]

Do you know what breed she is?

Unfortunately, no I don’t. All I know is she is an Easter egger and I’m pretty sure she is part silkie.

 

[newchikenlady]

I'm guessing you're talking about those ragged saddle feathers. If that's the area of your concern, it appears to be a form of feather picking damage I call "beak raking".

To confirm that this is damage and not something else, you need to observe your flock when they're loafing around the run. Watch to see if an older, higher ranking hen comes over to this one while she's sitting and resting and stands over her while drawing her beak across these saddle feathers.

I've seen this go on in my flock. After time and repeated "raking", the feathers become teased and almost kinky, a far cry from how they began. Your hen will have to molt before they can be replaced. Meanwhile, verify this is happening and try to discourage the behavior by interrupting the hen doing it with a strong peck on her back with your fingers.

If I'm wrong and this isn't what you're concerned about, then it would help us if you would describe in words what we should be looking at.

Yes, those feathers are what I am talking about.
Thank you, this is very helpful information. I do watch them a lot every day but I have not seen this behavior before. Stormy is probably second from the top of the pecking order (there have been some recent shifts so I’m not positive), so there would only be one chicken for me to keep an eye on.

In the saddle area, do chickens have a fluffy layer under their regular feathers?