What's wrong with chicken's tail?

[natemoore1986]

My new chickens are all doing great. No issues with introducing them to my one remaining 3 year old BSL hen.

One of my buff orpingtons has something going on with her tail. The new feather "tubes" look a little bloody. Feathers aren't growing like they should be. I don't observe the other chickens pecking at her. Everyone once in a while one will do a curiosity peck.

Here are pictures:

 

[natemoore1986]

bump

 

[natemoore1986]

bump

 

[natemoore1986]

bump

 

[natemoore1986]

bump

 

[natemoore1986]

bump

 

[emmaie892000]

It looks like the new feathers have been pecked off and the shafts have bled. If you're positive the other birds aren't doing this, even at night, it may be a self inflicted feather picking incident. Look up feather picking in the keyword search and you'll see advice on how to break that problem, I'm not very educated on it. My advice would be to put BluKote on it however, because even if the other birds aren't bothering her now, they may start when they notice the red color.

 

[natemoore1986]

Thanks for the reply. I sat out there for a good 30 minutes watching them an saw no self-feather picking nor picking by others. I also noticed that one of my two new cuckoo marans has the same condition. So I have one cuckoo maran and one buff orpington with beautifully feathered out tails, and one of each with this condition. But at this point, other feathers are completely hiding the afflicted area, so hopefully, if it is pecking, it will stop because they can't see it.

 

[emmaie892000]

Hmm. My other guess would be some kind of skin parasite, like mites, but they usually would affect the very base of the feather. Just keep checking the progress and see if the new feathers continue to grow back in.