Orpington back feathers split before tail feathers, is this normal?

[KTGR]

In our free range flock we have 5 Buff Orps and 2-3 of them have a weird split in their feather line where their tail feathers start. The others have a fairly perfectly smooth and feathered look across the back and tail. Out of all of our birds the Buff Orps are the only with this issue. My question is, is this common and could this be a negative when being bred. One of our best layers happens to be one of the worst offenders with this split and I think this may be the reason our rooster sliced her back wide open as her feathers may not be there to protect the skin. Our other birds with a solid back to tail feather blend have no signs of injury from our rooster.

picture 1: A Buff Orp with no back feather issue.
picture 2: A buff with a slight issue.
picture 3: The buff with the issue and a very large wound on her back which we assume is from our roosters claws while mounted.

Thanks, hopefully someone has some input.

 

[sourland]

I would guess that the feather loss and injury are a result of the rooster breeding them. Trimming his nails and spurs may help.

 

[Tennessee Great Granny]

In our free range flock we have 5 Buff Orps and 2-3 of them have a weird split in their feather line where their tail feathers start. The others have a fairly perfectly smooth and feathered look across the back and tail. Out of all of our birds the Buff Orps are the only with this issue. My question is, is this common and could this be a negative when being bred. One of our best layers happens to be one of the worst offenders with this split and I think this may be the reason our rooster sliced her back wide open as her feathers may not be there to protect the skin. Our other birds with a solid back to tail feather blend have no signs of injury from our rooster.

picture 1: A Buff Orp with no back feather issue.
picture 2: A buff with a slight issue.
picture 3: The buff with the issue and a very large wound on her back which we assume is from our roosters claws while mounted.

Thanks, hopefully someone has some input.

I raise only Buff Orpington chickens. I do have Buff Orpington ducks and turkeys too but all the chickens are one breed. This is for sure and for certain from breeding. There is a good remedy available. Chicken aprons or chickens saddles. I like the down under chicken saddles because they are durable and easy to clean even though they cost a little bit more. The cloth aprons are washable but wear out really fast. The Down Under version has that little bit of extra protection the buff hens need. Amazon seems to have the best price for a 4 pack. Wish I had read this post earlier so I could let you know what works for our girls. The Buff Orpington roosters usually don't get those huge claw type spurs. There's not much to cut if anything, but their nails can be trimmed as long as one doesn't cut into the quick. The saddles will do the job well. Amazon was about to have me do a review for them about the saddles. They do what they are designed to do. They fit Buff Orpington hens, but that is about the largest they can be adjusted to. I do have two hens that the rooster likes to grab by the feathers on the back of their heads which is causing those two gals to go bald. I read about two things that can help. One was the suggestion to apply blue kote. That basically kept him deterred a few days and he developed a blue beak after that. There is a peck no more deterrent that works better because it tastes awful but does need to be reapplied every few days.