u/Material_Tomato7388

This chicken is about 6 months old. We had an issue with feather plucking and this one seems to be the biggest culprit. They get 20% protein all flock. I separated this one to let the others heal and I'm making some saddles but the odd thing is this chicken hasn't laid an egg in the 5 days it has been in isolation. I didn't think it was a rooster because I havent heard any crowing, no signs of spurs. Wyandottes are so hard for me to ID as a newer chicken owner.

Could it be a late bloomer (either as a roo or hen)? Could it not be laying because of isolation? (Never had that problem before)

I just finished my first year of owning chickens and this is my first medical issue. I dont know what to do.

I have 3 hens who are missing feathers around their tails. I suspected there may be a feather plucker so I watched them carefully and thought I got the problem chicken (plucked out multiple feather on those 3 different chickens in just 10min). I'm suspicious it's a rooster - has a flat comb so it's hard to tell for me, no crowing. I'm watching for eggs while it's in isolation.

Anyway, I separated that one out and continued to observe. I see this one in the picture messing with her tail feathers and there's a drop of blood. On closer inspection, she has 3 feathers bleeding. I don't know if she just reopened them or if she did it herself. I cleaned her up in the tub (I put blu kote on her a few days ago because it's all I had and I was trying to get the pecking to stop - I know a lot of people advise against it.)

I put kwikstop on the bleeding feather and tried to keep her separated but it just stressed her out so I put her back in with the flock. All the other hens are inspecting/pecking at the tails of the worst two. Idk what else to do.

My chickens eat All Flock - 20% protein.

Is it possible the feather plucker started this and now it's just snowballing? Should I just treat everyone for depluming mites? Should I get saddles for the ones with missing tail feathers?

I hope this is the right place to post this.

We've been in our first home for about a year now and we're trying to figure out if this little stone layer is necessary.

My husband says it's for drainage and to keep dirt from getting between the larger stones but the layer of small stones is only about 2" thick. Under it is a layer of landscaping cloth and then dirt. I'd love to get rid of it (grass/weeds grow in the rocks and it's difficult to remove) or replace with mulch so I can plant flowers there.

The large stones are a 1' tall border around our sunk in patio.