I think I had it in my head it was some sort of fungal infection as I'd seen some weird pictures earlier in the day.
Plus a few weeks ago I bought a chicken which a fly had laid some eggs in and it really freaked me out... started to consider vegetarianism after seeing those spikes, of course now I know they're feathers in the "Parson's Nose" chuckle chuckle!
I`d be more afraid of what`s inside that chicken flesh, than a few old feather spikes on its tail. Do you think that creature could ever actually walk on those short legs supporting that enormous inflated body?
When we adopted our first batch (4) of ex battery hens in the uk- they couldn't even walk, were just lifiting their feet up and down- but it didn't take long to work out they could actually go forwards- and run! Oh the joy. They had no feathers at all on their bum then a couple of weeks of happiness later, running around the garden, free- they developped horrible pustules all over their bums and we were so worried they'd caught some lurgy or other. Then 2 days later the pustules burst with the fluffiest feathers ever