I come crawling back for advice after being so certain pinless peepers were resolving a rather difficult feather shaving problem.
My two-year old EE Flo, charming and precocious as she is, has adjusted to her pinless peepers to the extent that they no longer even so much as slow her down when she's on a feather shaving rampage,
For over a year, the peepers have kept her annoying problem in check, but recently she is reverting to her old evil ways. I have trimmed her upper beak, and it makes no difference whatsoever. Flo is usually fine until late afternoon, and then she seems to rev up and snatches big hunks of feathers from backs of anyone who is in range.
I've resorted to putting her in jail each afternoon when she starts liberating feathers. She's in a small pen adjacent to the main run, so she still interacts with the others without molesting anyone. Tonight at roosting time, I released her and she immediately snatched a huge hunk of feathers from my oldest hen.
In desperation, I put Flo in the unused broody coop all by herself for the night.
I'm not sure where to go from here. Has anyone had such a hard case as Flo? Does isolation do any good? Will it change behavior if she remains apart from the flock for a while?
And she's much too precious to cull. Like I said, she's an amazing little hen, knows her name, loves to cuddle in my lap, and has other endearing traits I'd miss if she were gone. Also, I've ruled out a dietary problem - Flo's brain seemed to be hard-wired for feather picking from the very beginning.
My two-year old EE Flo, charming and precocious as she is, has adjusted to her pinless peepers to the extent that they no longer even so much as slow her down when she's on a feather shaving rampage,
For over a year, the peepers have kept her annoying problem in check, but recently she is reverting to her old evil ways. I have trimmed her upper beak, and it makes no difference whatsoever. Flo is usually fine until late afternoon, and then she seems to rev up and snatches big hunks of feathers from backs of anyone who is in range.
I've resorted to putting her in jail each afternoon when she starts liberating feathers. She's in a small pen adjacent to the main run, so she still interacts with the others without molesting anyone. Tonight at roosting time, I released her and she immediately snatched a huge hunk of feathers from my oldest hen.
In desperation, I put Flo in the unused broody coop all by herself for the night.
I'm not sure where to go from here. Has anyone had such a hard case as Flo? Does isolation do any good? Will it change behavior if she remains apart from the flock for a while?
And she's much too precious to cull. Like I said, she's an amazing little hen, knows her name, loves to cuddle in my lap, and has other endearing traits I'd miss if she were gone. Also, I've ruled out a dietary problem - Flo's brain seemed to be hard-wired for feather picking from the very beginning.
