MrsWhitneyLou
Hatching
- Jun 26, 2023
- 3
- 0
- 6
Hi everyone!
My family and I are new to raising chickens, and have been stumped as to how to help our chickens stop feather picking. We bought the hens from a family getting rid of them in January this year, and one of the hens had some feather loss at her tail area (the owners said it was molting). The hens were kept by the previous owners in a small coop (4 hens to a coop designed for 2-3 hens), with a “run” under a trampoline. We have since put them in a much larger coop, but they free-range on about an acre of our land that’s fenced-in. The feather loss has gotten worse in the last couple months though.
For background, they’re all about 3 years old, and they have been laying very well. They are two barred Plymouth rocks and two silver-laced Wyandottes. One Plymouth Rock is totally fine, and the other has the worst feather loss. The two Wyandottes have shown some feather loss by their tails in the last month. I have them on a feather-regrowth feed, and give them maybe a cup or two worth of kitchen veggie/fruit scraps every other day or so, some dried mealworm treats or a scrambled egg on the other days. Droppings look pretty normal from what I’ve researched on this forum. The hens don’t like being held, but I can usually grab the Plymouth Rock and it doesn’t look like she has mites or any bugs I can see. I have sprayed her with Blu-Kote (hence the purple, the photos are from before me spraying her again) but it doesn’t seem to help very much.
What am I missing? Do they need vitamin supplementation? Medication? They seem happy overall, but they look awful and I want them to be healthy and happy. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated, thank you!
My family and I are new to raising chickens, and have been stumped as to how to help our chickens stop feather picking. We bought the hens from a family getting rid of them in January this year, and one of the hens had some feather loss at her tail area (the owners said it was molting). The hens were kept by the previous owners in a small coop (4 hens to a coop designed for 2-3 hens), with a “run” under a trampoline. We have since put them in a much larger coop, but they free-range on about an acre of our land that’s fenced-in. The feather loss has gotten worse in the last couple months though.
For background, they’re all about 3 years old, and they have been laying very well. They are two barred Plymouth rocks and two silver-laced Wyandottes. One Plymouth Rock is totally fine, and the other has the worst feather loss. The two Wyandottes have shown some feather loss by their tails in the last month. I have them on a feather-regrowth feed, and give them maybe a cup or two worth of kitchen veggie/fruit scraps every other day or so, some dried mealworm treats or a scrambled egg on the other days. Droppings look pretty normal from what I’ve researched on this forum. The hens don’t like being held, but I can usually grab the Plymouth Rock and it doesn’t look like she has mites or any bugs I can see. I have sprayed her with Blu-Kote (hence the purple, the photos are from before me spraying her again) but it doesn’t seem to help very much.
What am I missing? Do they need vitamin supplementation? Medication? They seem happy overall, but they look awful and I want them to be healthy and happy. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated, thank you!