Feather Plucking.....Bored/Stressed Chickens?

[chicksnhorses]

Love the idea of putting out some hay for them to walk on. Great idea! Especially if there is no snow predicted in the near future! We have about 3 more days of horrible weather and then we are supposed to warm up a bit!

The suggestion that my chickens might not be getting enough protein due to the "treats" used to keep them busy is probably valid as well. I did get some calf manna today. They didn't seem crazy about it, but I put in in there anyway.

Do people feed their chickens wet cat food or dry? I tried giving mine dry last year and they didn't go for it? Would giving them some wet food be okay?

Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions!

 

[chicksnhorses]

I did also get some white vinegar today and will add some to the water tonight.

From what I read, looks like about a tablespoon per gallon. Am I correct in this?

Thanks!

 

[Michigan Transplant]

I am curious about the cat food too, but am wondering if dog food would work too (dry food of course). We just bought a big 50 pound bag of dry dog food and then had to have one of the dogs put to sleep and our little chihuahua sure can't eat that much food by herself. The question was asked about the white vinegar so will wait for that answer.

About the bare butts. My RIR are bare in the area where their tails connect to their body. Not sure if the male is a little to frisky or if it is the other hens. I have noticed the roo is getting a few less feathers around that area as well.

My inside pen is 7 1/2' x 5 1/2' and they have one outside pen on the north side that is the same size. Then another outside pen on the east side that is 18' x 6 1/2'. Not all of the hens are bare but about 4 or 5 have different stages of bare. There is one who is bald in about a 2 x 2 area. She isn't bleeding as of yet but I am still concerned about her.

I found out on another site that I have their milk crates above the bars for roosting at night so I am having trouble with the poo in the crates when they lay their eggs. Will take care of that when my fingers thaw out. LOL

I will use the idea of laying some hay on the outside pen since it is rather on the damp/muddy side. They ate all the grass down to nothing last fall.

I might be giving them way to much oatmeal. I do not cook mine. Will throw it down on the floor and let them scratch for it. I do the deep liter method on one end and around their food was just a cement floor but they decided they like straw over there so have added it themselves. Now there is so much dirt under it that it is about as much as the other end with the straw.
I did have trouble with the rooster having black spots on his waddle and think that is because it isn't ventilated as well as it should be. First time mommy and I don't know much.

Hope someone can suggest what the problem might be with the bare butts. THANKS.

 

[mandelyn]

I don't know what it could be, only that the solution, if found, will take several weeks to show it's effect. Feather growth takes time, so if you try every idea suggested one after another, and something works, you won't know which method actually caused the improvement.

You would be able to see the eggs on remaining butt feathers if it were lice/mites. A molt would affect the whole body as far as I know, not just the head, and not just the butt. Increased protein will aid in feather growth, so definitely do that.

If you pull a wing out, the longest feathers on the end, are they smooth and shiny and clean, or sort of split/broken and dull? Not the shaft of the feather, but the feather fibers. They should all be smooth and connected to each other, making a "solid" feather. If not, it shows they aren't utilizing their space, are feeling crowded, and thus stressed. That's what someone had told me about it, crowded birds will have poor wing feathers. Crowded birds are stressed birds, and other problems can happen because of it. If they're not going outside, try the hay throwing idea, reducing the number of birds, or increasing the coop, or finding another place to house some of them. Your coop size is fine for warm weather, but might be too close when it's cold and they refuse to go out in the snow.

 

[newchicksnducks]

My girls got much worse than this picture shows....my BA were naked from tail to wings!

It all began in March of 2010, and they remained featherless on their backs all summer. The whole flock went into a molt in the fall, but in late October/early November they all grew their feathers back in. I was sooo excited.

But....along late December, they started pecking again. Once more, my BA's are bald, and my SS is "speckled" with baldness! I had tried everthing last year...I give up! They continue to lay well, no skin injuries, no frostbite (and my well ventilated coop gets cold!) so I'll just live w/weird looking birds. I'm considering saddles (even tho I have no rooster) to add a layer of warmth and maybe allow the feathers to regrow. Silly birds!

 

[7L Farm]

Quote:
I have the same problem I gave up also.

 

[Judy]

I think this is why Patandchickens says she won't keep chickens in less than 15 sq ft per bird; she lives in Canada and knows they will confine themselves to the coop for weeks on end.

In the end, getting them out of the coop may be the only solution, whatever it takes, shoveling and laying pallets on the snow, covering a larger run, whatever. Sometimes I think people inadvertently drop the protein levels by giving so many treats to try to keep them entertained, as well. In the end, I think chickens can get the same cabin fever that we do. 4 or 5 sq ft per bird on a 24/7 basis just isn't enough, at least not always.

 

[Ironmaiden]

So ddawn, if one has gone and spoiled their chickens...ah HEM, and feeds them too much scratch, will they revert to eating more of their high protein layer or will there be an uprising of angry chicken cackling????

 

[Judy]

Quote:
Oh, now, you wouldn't do such a thing, would you???

They will eat when they're hungry. Though this isn't a good time to for them to go a bit hungry, is it?

I just looked it up earlier today, and BOSS is 16% protein, according to one vendor. At least that's equivalent to feed, more or less. Mine get a lot more excited about BOSS than they do scratch. Guess I should do a side by side comparison. One of these days. Anyway, maybe this would be a way to avoid the scratch and still give them treats.

I get the angry chicken cackling only when I go outside without BOSS!

 

[indymom]

I have 2-3 out of 19 hens and 2 roosters that have been pecked raw, too. It got much worse when I switched from flock raiser to laying pellets. I think it is a protein deficiency as I see them eating each others feathers almost every day- both from the floor of the run and coop and directly out of each others backs. My tractor is 6X16 for the 21 birds. I'm thinking of going back to flock raiser when I run out of layena but then spring is coming and they will start getting bugs and earthworms again to supplement their diets and it may not be necessary to switch for very long.