Posted by Bridget Wheeler on Friday, April 15, 2011
I checked the chicks over yesterday when I got home and found something I have never had a problem with before. Violet started to pluck one of her chicks feathers. The pore little thing hardly has any feathers on it's back on the back of it's head and under one wing. It's a couple days shy of a month old. She has pulled the chicks adult feathers out along with the chick down. I put the chick and it's sibling in with two of my other breeding hens, Stella and Ginger. They both are doing fine in their new nests. They have been fed and the foster hens don't seem to have a problem with either of the chicks. The chicks feathers will grow back in in about a week or so. The reason hens pluck their chicks is they want to lay a second clutch and they think the first clutch should have left the nest. I put Violet and Willow back in my large flight cage. As for the other chicks They all look great. The older chicks are starting to get out of the nest but can't get back in the nest yet.
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