Poor chickens have no tails

[CrazyBirdChick]

I sometimes walk past this chicken coup in my neighborhood but usually I'm only able to see the chickens from far cause they're cooped up in their shed. They are at a public elementary school in Chicago.

Today they were actually out roaming in the grass so I stopped to say him to them. Sadly, I noticed all but 1 of them had no tail. The one who had a tail only had like two feathers. There's about 8-10 chickens there but I did'nt get pics of all of them.





They have a pretty nice coup so I'm guessing they have a pretty goodl life?


It just made me sad that their butts look so angry and inflamed. I'm not sure that there's anything I could do so I'm not even sure why I'm posting this. I guess cause you all probably can relate to feeling sad for them.

Why do you think they have bald butts? Is there a bully in the bunch? Is their shed too small? Are they stressed? Sick? I don't know what to think?

 

[Macaw Lover]

Looks like a luxury chicken shed to me

 

[CrazyBirdChick]

Looks like a luxury chicken shed to me

I thought it was pretty nice too. That's why I don't want to jump to conclusions. Just want to make sure they are ok?

 

[DQTimnehs]

Do you think the elementary kids might be trying to catch them and accidentally pulling out tail feathers?

 

[CrazyBirdChick]

Do you think the elementary kids might be trying to catch them and accidentally pulling out tail feathers?

Gosh, I hope not! I have no idea though. You would think that could maybe happen once or twice but for all the chickens to be bald? I would hope someone would not allow that.

I just drove past there and saw a big chicken that I didn't see earlier and it had a beautiful full tail. Maybe that one is pulling the other's tails out?

 

[jmfleish]

Do you think the elementary kids might be trying to catch them and accidentally pulling out tail feathers?

That was totally what I was thinking! Yikes, does that make me a bad person?

 

[Rolanda]

That was totally what I was thinking! Yikes, does that make me a bad person?

I don't think so. Curious, yes. seems to me that would be the first guess.

 

[WallyLoopey]

They're picking each other due to not enough protein, or there is a rooster who is constantly mating them.
I have chickens.
If they just live in that she'd and have a small run..then it's def too small anyways. Doesn't matter how nice the shed looks.

 

[jmfleish]

If it was a male picking on them, they'd be missing way more than their tails...I'm going with a kid that got too excited and someone didn't get to him in time!

 

[CrazyBirdChick]

They're picking each other due to not enough protein, or there is a rooster who is constantly mating them.
I have chickens.
If they just live in that she'd and have a small run..then it's def too small anyways. Doesn't matter how nice the shed looks.

Hmmm, now I'm wondering if the big "chicken" I saw might have actually been the rooster.

I agree that the shed is a little small too. It looks nice but it's not huge. It's probably like 4' by 12' and there's like 10 chickens.

Today was the first time I ever saw them stretch their legs. Though I will admit I don't walk past there everyday.

I know alot of chickens in the world have it way worse than these girls so I don't want to make it seem like I'm saying they're not treated well.

I just hate to think that their bald bloody butts might get infected or something?

 

[camelotshadow]

I really could not make out bloody butts but that's not good.
I'm not really a fan of schools putting up chicken coops & keeping chickens for the amusement of children but it does look like they put alot of effort into the coop & hope they are cared for.
If they have wounds on there butts I hope they are being treated & someone noticed it.

 

[CrazyBirdChick]

Sorry, I hope I'm not making this sound worse than it is. Though it is kinda bad, I think.

They were not bloody, bloody, like flowing blood. But the feather follicles on a few had a some dried up blood looking dots and it looked raw and red all over.

I was just Googling to find out more about the chicken program there and found the school's Facebook page. The chickens first arrived in September 2016 and they just got the new coop donated by Whole Foods store on December 6th. Apparently they became free range on the 6th. So they were cooped up for a few months in an even smaller coop.

From the few Facebook pictures I saw, all the birds still had tails on Dec 6th! They all just lost them sometime after they started getting free range time(?) That's kind of weird. Maybe they have lice or mites?

I just read this When Chickens are Missing Feathers - Southern States Cooperative and it went over a few reasons for feather loss.

Said it could be from over mating or mites/lice or boredom or over crowding (they say each chicken should have 10 sq feet) or it could be the hens establishing their pecking order. But apparently even after they establish the pecking order some of em jist keep picking.

But one thing is for sure, it said that a plucked chicken should be removed because the red attacts more plucking so they need time to heal away from each other.

This is making me sad.I think it's kind of cool to have chickens in the city cause I don't get to see that sort of thing often.

But also, I'm not sure if the city is a safe place for them (coyotes, dogs, cats, kids, drunks) And I'm not sure if someone knowledgeable is taking care of them. I hope I'm just being overly concerned and that they are fine.

 

[camelotshadow]

I feel sorry for the food chicken the most. They are lucky to have 1 sq foot of space to grow before they are ready for the table.
I still eat them though so I am not proud but I like to eat & chicken & fish as well as the very rare meat is in my diet.

Egg layers get to live & make eggs but they are only good for that for a few years before the egg productivity goes down & are replaced/

Was nice of Whole Food to donate the coop & I guess the school is trying to educate the kids but could be doing it at the expense of the animal well being. Those programs may go well for 6 mo or a year but eventually there are problems.

 

[Jaguar]

Chickens will pluck each other bare - especially the ones lower in the heirarchy. Usually a result of unhappiness or stress. My sister's were all bald on their backs because the dogs chased and harassed them constantly.

 

[CrazyBirdChick]

Chickens will pluck each other bare - especially the ones lower in the heirarchy. Usually a result of unhappiness or stress. My sisters were all bald on their backs because the dogs chased and harassed them constantly.

Awww I bet part of it is stress.
I can just imagine all the screaming running kids they have to deal with, and the dog owners who walk past that probably think it's fun to see their dogs chase and bark at them through the fence.

 

[CrazyBirdChick]

I just wanted to share a happy update

A little while after I first saw that the chickens were missing their tails whoever is in charge of them started putting little yellow plastic glasses on them




I haven't walked past there in a while but I did today and they all look great, and very happy. They even have a piano and a swing now

 

[Donna turner]

I like happy endings

 

[TikiMyn]

They look a lot better! Beautiful chickens too!

 

[rockybird]

Thank you for the update! That is good to hear!

 

[finchly]

They look good! Somebody paid attention to what was going on .