A Mess of Issues~ Rooster,hen pecking, no eggs, missin feather! Yikes

[mamamary]

Where to start??? 12 hens, 1 rooster.

First, the hens seem to be pecking the roosters feet until they bleed. We took him out of the pen/house and put him in a crate, dipped his legs in vegtable oil for a week, seemed to look normal put him back in the hen/coop and they pecked them up again. (Emptied and cleaned the coop, put down sevin, re bedded it and the nest Have never seen a mite, been lookin.

12 hens went from 9-11 eggs a day to 4

One hen brooding, won't get out of the nest much loosing weight.

About 4 hens have a bare spot on their back where all the feathers are missing.

These chickens were born January 21, 2010. We live in Mississippi and it is not that cold out, actually getting warmer!

What is happening to my happy chickens!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Have you seen the hens pecking the roosters feet? or is it just 1 or 2? they feathers missing on their backs is probably rooster damage not much you can do except get the girls some saddles[hen]. what are you feeding them? maybe try upping their protein levels for a time and see if that will help, give them some canned tuna, salmon, yogurt, mealworms, even scrambled eggs... do they free range or are they in a run? might want to also get them different kinds of veggies to work on head of lettuce, cabbage, beets, I hang these from a wire so they have to work at getting them to eat.. if you can get some bluekote and spray his legs and feet with it. it will make them purple but it does work to stop pecking.. as far as egg production being off, well they do take breaks every once in a while. but hopefully trying these and other things that other poster will suggest will get them back to laying quickly.have you looked over your chickens for mites/lice? I know you said you treated your coop which was good. also have you ever wormed them? might want to consider doing that too.

 

[welasharon]

How about overcrowding as an issue? Do you have all 13 cooped up? How large is the coop? Are they closed up in there?...as well as the issues mentioned above by Lydia.
sharon

 

[mamamary]

I so appreciate the help!

We have an 8' x 8' coop, with a 20' x 20' coop

In the yard we have a oyster shell troff.

They only are locked up in the coop at night.

I haven't been able to catch the hens pecking at the roo. Though I thorougly understand the saying "hen pecked" now.

We give the cracked corn, and bread to keep them entertained, and will try some "hanging veggies".

We had 2 roo's, but got rid of the mean one because of how he treated the hens.
How long does it take for their feathers to grow back?

As far as worming, I read this site a lot, but this is the first I have hard of it! Oops! I worm my goats, how do i worm my chickens???


thanks for the help
2 cats, 4 dogs, 3 goats, 13 chickens in Mississippi! (though I am/ was a city girl!)

 

[honeydoll]

Oh the how long does it take for feathers to grow back question. .. they look so pitiful missing feathers don't they? I asked the same question and the answer is always a long time.

If it was my birds I would suspect they were lacking protein. Feather picking/eating is a sure sign of that. I will tell you a rememdy that sounds silly, I got from someone on here who was from Britian. They said to put white vinegar in the water to calm them down, and I added 2 TBsp. to a gallon of water and it did help. I always say it could be coincidence because at the same time I also added BOSS to their diet to give them more protein. But anytime being cooped up due to weather gets my chicken bored I do this and haven't had an issue since. BOSS is a regular part of their diet now though, so like I said could be coincidence. But it is cheap to try and see if it helps.

HTH

Carolyn

 

[Miss Lydia]

this is what I found in the BYC archives:
Valbazen which is a cattle wormer.It kills more types of worms than all the others combined, And you don't have to worry about a massive worm kill like with piperazine or ivermectin which will sometimes clog the intestines..Valbazen slowly starves the parasites over a 2 to 5 day period..Valbazen is also used for human treatments at 400 mg child or adult..So unless you are allergic to it, it's ok to consume the eggs after treatment, but most I know wait two weeks .. Dosage is 1/2 cc orally to adult large fowl.. 1/4 cc for bantams and young standard breeds.

the feathers probably won't grow back till after they molt this year.. but if you get some bluekote the same time you get wormer, you can keep the areas of their back sprayed and the roosters feet sprayed and at least that will deter more pecking.. if your interested in Hen saddles just google it you see info. and about the vinegar, use Apple cider vinegar if any at all, ACV is good for them and us, it will also help with crop issues..1 Tab. to 1 Gallon of water cut back on the corn and give more protein, like honeydoll said Boss is very good at providing protein. another issue you brought up is external parasites, their is a product called epernix pour-on it's for cattle but safe to use for chickens, it will also kill internal parasites, not sure if it will kill round worms though. any way alot to absorb, but at least you have a start. Still have questions? come back there is always some one who can help.