My poor Cholo...
Now that all the hens are molting and acting weird as molting chickens do, they have FINALLY quit picking out his tufts. This has been an ongoing problem all summer. Whenever I thought I found the culprit and isolated her, he still got picked. Anyways, through conversations with araucana breeders I learned it's just something that happens...tufts are tasty treats, and if you want to keep tufts on your bird (especially for showing), isolate them. For me, keeping a rooster away from his hens defeats the purpose of having a rooster, so Cholo and I have just dealt with it.
I have been watching this one particular tuft for at least 2 weeks now. The shaft or casing, not sure what the correct term is, just keeps growing and growing with the feather. This shaft/casing is now over an inch long! It just won't shed. Could this become a problem? Anything I should do or just leave it alone?
Now that all the hens are molting and acting weird as molting chickens do, they have FINALLY quit picking out his tufts. This has been an ongoing problem all summer. Whenever I thought I found the culprit and isolated her, he still got picked. Anyways, through conversations with araucana breeders I learned it's just something that happens...tufts are tasty treats, and if you want to keep tufts on your bird (especially for showing), isolate them. For me, keeping a rooster away from his hens defeats the purpose of having a rooster, so Cholo and I have just dealt with it.
I have been watching this one particular tuft for at least 2 weeks now. The shaft or casing, not sure what the correct term is, just keeps growing and growing with the feather. This shaft/casing is now over an inch long! It just won't shed. Could this become a problem? Anything I should do or just leave it alone?
I do it all the time for my parrot in places he can't reach to preen, like his head. Just gently rub it between two fingers and it'll flake right off. Some of it might not be ready yet so if you get any resistance to it coming off easily down by the base, leave it for now. If you don't do anything it should, eventually, fall off on its own too.
