FLOCK AND FEATHERS SKIN

Often times, before a chicken starts to get severely feather picked, it looks like the chicken above, just a few feathers pecked and almost having a 'fluffy' appearance where there are no feathers. Here are a couple pictures that show what a feather picked chicken looks like:Ī severe case of feather picking, this chicken is missing all it's butt and tail feathers.Ī mild case of feather picking, this chicken is missing a few feathers at the base of its tail.

FLOCK AND FEATHERS SKIN

You can tell when a chicken has been feather picked because typically their tail/vent/butt area will be missing feathers, the skin where they no longer have feathers is red and sometimes bloody, and other chickens may come over to them and pull out more feathers. Of course, a bully can start feather picking anywhere it pleases on it’s coop mate, but this is normally the way it goes. Then, once all the feathers are gone from that particular area, the bully will start working it’s way up it’s coop mate’s back. Usually, the bully (chicken performing the action of feather picking) will start pulling the feathers around its coop mate’s tail/vent/butt area. When feather picking, chickens will pull the feathers off of their other coop mates. Feather picking is an action chickens perform when they have a nutrition deficiency, not enough space in their living quarters/coop, or just out of habit.

Flock and feathers