Sarahh_Janeyy
Songster
So, my girls have been losing their tail feathers. I thought it could be bullying, but I've watched them a lot and haven't seen anything concerning. Their pecking order readjusted after the top two birds were rehomed (one was a rooster, other was its very attached buddy) so I thought maybe it could be stress? But they aren't losing other feathers as far as I can tell, just the long tail feathers. It's very hot and humid in Florida right now. I checked the bum of my friendliest feather-loser and didn't see any evidence of poultry lice or eggs. I've previously dusted the inside of the coop with food grade diatomaceous earth and also mixed it in their food. Any thoughts on what might be going on with their tail feather loss?
Other considerations - I changed their food from dumors I got from tractor Supply to kalmbach I got from chewy.com - I had concerns there was not enough protein/the food was old from tractor Supply and all the other local feed stores are closed here bc of covid. I've read that changing food can cause them to molt but hopefully this food has more nutrition in it so I'm hoping not.
They are panting a lot but I'm doing the best I can to keep them cool in this Florida humid heat - I installed an exhaust fan on their coop but I'm not sure how big a difference it's making, they have shade from the coop itself (off the ground) and I bring them ice water and cold watermelon. I'm worried they could be heat stressed.
Attaching some photos. I also looked at one of their vents to see if it was gleet, but it didn't look anything like the pics I've seen on Google but perhaps people only post the most horrible cases.
Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks!
Other considerations - I changed their food from dumors I got from tractor Supply to kalmbach I got from chewy.com - I had concerns there was not enough protein/the food was old from tractor Supply and all the other local feed stores are closed here bc of covid. I've read that changing food can cause them to molt but hopefully this food has more nutrition in it so I'm hoping not.
They are panting a lot but I'm doing the best I can to keep them cool in this Florida humid heat - I installed an exhaust fan on their coop but I'm not sure how big a difference it's making, they have shade from the coop itself (off the ground) and I bring them ice water and cold watermelon. I'm worried they could be heat stressed.
Attaching some photos. I also looked at one of their vents to see if it was gleet, but it didn't look anything like the pics I've seen on Google but perhaps people only post the most horrible cases.
Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks!