why do chickens take eachothers tail feathers out?

[Loretta212]

i have 10 chickens 2 mature hens, 2 hens not laying yet and 6 young roos (not crowing yet) they have all been getting along just fine. this morning when we went out to feed them 3 of the roos had a lot of tail feathers missing this is not somthing that has happened before. what would make this happen? one is missing almost all of his tail feathers

 

[Duramaxgirl]

How old are the roos? to many roos can definitely be a cause for feather picking. 6 is a lot of roosters. How big is your coop and run.

 

[Loretta212]

i wish i had the dememsions for you we have a pretty good section of our yard fenced in for them and i have 9 nesting boxes in a coop that is on the medium size maybe the roos are starting to mature?? would that make them jerks?!

 

[Loretta212]

i also just found out that i had so many roos i had the chicks from a month old and wasnt sure what they all were i am going to be getting rid of them (most likley eating them) so i will onlyhave 4 chickens then

 

[Duramaxgirl]

yes they start maturing at 16-20 weeks. I've a bunch of wyandotte roosters that have been trouble. I also have a huge coop and run. Roosters can just be jerks

especially if they are a more aggressive breed. I'd get rid of the extra roosters before they bald your hens.

 

[Loretta212]

i just went in the coop and saw that the roosting spots all came out of the wall wonder if there was a battle for roosting spot? they are EEs