feather plucking

I am very new to geese. I have a 7 week old female, a lot of her feathers are in but her chest is almost completely bare. It looks like she's over-preening there but I'm not sure and I'm so afraid something is wrong with her and I'm not seeing it! She's showing no signs of illness or mites, nor...

I’ve noticed over the past few weeks that my Ameraucanas have bare patched at the base of their backs where their tail feathers begin. Some worse than others. I’m trying to figure out if 1) they are being pecked on by other chickens, 2) they are plucking them out by themselves, 3) molting - at...

My 4+ y/o RIR, Willy Honka, is a great chicken.... most of the time. However, since this time last year, when my BO Glory starts to molt and blood feather nubs start showing up around her vent/rear end, Willy Honka becomes OBSESSED with plucking and pecking them. Inevitably, this causes bleeding...

Good morning! My chicken has started plucking the feathers from under her breast and legs. I’ve checked for mites and lice and thankfully that isn’t the problem. I read that it could mean she is becoming broody but doesn’t show any of the characteristics of being broody other then plucking...

Ok y'all, I'm at a complete loss and need some other perspectives on this. I have (4) 4.5 week old peachicks and all has been fine until last night. One of the peachicks was screaming and we noticed she was pulling on her own wing feathers nearly constantly. She'd grab a wing feather and scream...

It seems every day with my flock there's a new problem. This one is a really weird case. So recently we had bad snowy weather and I was unable to let the chickens out for a couple days. I didn't realize they were low on food and so a couple mornings in a row they were starving and I had to give...

Please help me! I have 5 lovely ladies who joined our family March of 2022. The ladies have a 1/4 acre of fully fenced in backyard in a SW Georgia suburb to free range for at least 6 to 8 hours a day 5 to 7 days a week. On days the weather is to rainy or they must be in their run for some reason...

(I think this might not be the right place for this thread, sorry) I have a 1 year 7 month old bantam brahma hen named Zombie. She was the 1st hen in my current flock. She has a history of being picked on. First when she was 2 weeks old the other chicks picked her head until it started...

Hi, so I have a small flock on my back garden who just seem to always get sick I’ve had them coming up a year, and we’ve already spent a couple of hundred pounds on vet bills. They’ve had parasites, they now have vent gleet, and they’ve seen the vets twice already now. First it was new chickens...

OK yall so we have 6 chickens, all raised together with ample room. Eagle which is the Polish is getting more of her crest, I noticed yesterday she had a "bald spot" and today it's even bigger. I don't know if this is from other plucking her feathers or if it's new feathers coming in. If they...

My guinea fowl are being absolute bumholes and harassing my chickens. I’m looking into pinless peepers and bumpa bits as a last resort before I might have to rehome them to a guinea flock. I asked for females but pretty sure I got given 4 males, never seen an egg the whole time I’ve had them...

Once again, I turn to the BYC community for much needed help!! My EE hen has a large area surrounding her vent that is bare. Last week she had a broken feather and I stopped the bleeding with cornstarch, got her cleaned up and used Blue Kote. She’s partridge colored and the blue kote did a great...

Hello all! I have a 22 week old RIR pullet who has been on and off again plucking and eating the feathers of her flock mates (same age). First she was targeting my Silver Laced Polish (maybe a month and a half ago) to the point they avoided both my RIRs like the plague, then she stopped...

Hello all I'm new to chickens so I'll start there. We were given 7, 2 year old hens and have had them about 2 months. The previous owner had communicated to us the chickens have always had feather plucking issues and bald patches. She said she couldn't figure out why they had chronic issues with...

I have 8 chickens that are 9 months old now. I have had issues in the past with feather pecking and bullying of one of my Easter eggers when some of the other chickens first started laying. I was able to put peepers on the two culprits for about 6 weeks. That was several months ago. Now I have...

I have a hen which had gone broody but has recently (2 days ago) abandoned her eggs. She is aggressively going at her best and stomach and I have noticed after a bit of a fight to pick her up, she has lost a lot of feathers on her breast. Should i be worried? She is still young and this is the...

Hey Everyone! I have a RIR going thru her first molt and it was a hard one. She was mainly new feathers coming in and they were probably little over 1/2 in. I went out this morning and the other 4 girls had plucked almost all of them out! It is cold here in Indiana now so I just put an apron on...

I am at a loss what to do. I have a small flock of 5 hens (aged +1 year) who appear to be pretty healthy, except ... Two of my hens are plucking out their own feathers. Both of these hens are Barred Rocks. None of my other hens are doing this. This behavior has been going on for about 3 - 4...

I have few questions as it is the auctions next week and I'm making decisions about my flock... I currently have 6 Muscovys (two drakes and 4 ducks) and 2 pekin mix drakes that all run together all about 5-6months old. firstly// one of my Muscovy drakes has had his tail feather pulled by one...

I have a broody hen and I'm a little concerned because she seems to be pulling feathers from her chest? Is this normal? The box is lined with feathers. The reason I'm concerned is because one of the feathers attached to her looked a little red around it? But I guess maybe just irritated from the...