Balanced diet for hens to stop feather picking

[DoubleYolk123]

Hi Everyone
So I’d like to ask everyone, how many treats they feed their chickens, what treats and how often.

Basically, my chickens are losing feathers and according to the vets it’s a parasite in their skin, which they are on medication for. However they also pluck at each other a lot and one hen in particular is getting it quite bad from one of the more dominant hens.

We think it may be due to not having enough protein, but we feed a handful of mealworms daily (I have 6 hens) as well as a handful of scratch and every few days (so no more then 3 times a week) they get a different treat, usually chopped veg with calcium on it, or corn on the cob. But sometimes we change it up with bread, rice or scrambled egg.

If the issue isn’t diet, what could it be??? Ik I’ve rambled a bit but I hope there’s something in here you can use, thanks advance!!

 

[JaeG]

I'd give them a feed that has 20% protein in it to see if that makes a difference and cut out all treats until you can judge whether it is making a difference.

Did your vet say they have mites or lice? Make sure they have access to a dust bath as that will help them get rid of external parasites, but when it's bad the birds definitely need to be treated. Have to treated their coop as well?

 

[Mamatomany123]

What kind of feed are you giving them? Everything you've listed is just treats.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Protein % in the feed is the first thing I'd look at. Also consider that even though some of the treats you offer have decent protein in them, you're overall diluting down the protein intake overall with all the varied treats. I'd cut out the treats (or cut them down drastically) and aim for a higher protein feed, like 20%, and see how they do on that.

 

[DoubleYolk123]

What kind of feed are you giving them? Everything you've listed is just treats.

Oh right sorry I forgot to also say they have 24/7 access during the day to feeders with layer pellets

 

[chicken1234]

Its probably because of the parasites but I'd add a dust bath in like JaeG mentioned with DE added, that will help. Can you add some new things in for a distraction? More perches, ledges, hide spots. Put a saddle pad on the one being pecked at most before they draw blood. Do you add calcium free choice, such as oyster shells? How big is the pen, how many chickens?

 

[DoubleYolk123]

I'd give them a feed that has 20% protein in it to see if that makes a difference and cut out all treats until you can judge whether it is making a difference.

Did your vet say they have mites or lice? Make sure they have access to a dust bath as that will help them get rid of external parasites, but when it's bad the birds definitely need to be treated. Have to treated their coop as well?

They get let out into the garden daily to dust bathe, as their coop is mostly either bark or a bit muddy due to the time of year. We weren’t told to treat the coop, only to increase cleaning which we have been doing.

 

[DoubleYolk123]

Its probably because of the parasites but I'd add a dust bath in like JaeG mentioned with DE added, that will help. Can you add some new things in for a distraction? More perches, ledges, hide spots. Put a saddle pad on the one being pecked at most before they draw blood. Do you add calcium free choice, such as oyster shells? How big is the pen, how many chickens?

Do saddle pads cover all the chicken? It’s mostly her stomach, legs and butt area which are worst, her back doesn’t seem too bad. Also they are given a calcium powder on chopped veg or sprinkled on a corn on the cob twice a week. The coop is roughly just over 8 foot long, and 7 foot wide. Although it’s shape means it’s slightly larger then that since it isn’t a perfect rectangle. There are 6 hens in there, all fully grown hybrids. There are currently 2 perches in there, 1 made of a tree branch and the other a wooden plank.

 

[DoubleYolk123]

Also here are some photos of the chickens condition. Couldn’t get a clear photo cause they kept pecking the camera through the fence. Believe it or not they were actually worse before the treatment. There skin was red and some of them had sores on their stomachs. It’s now gone for pink/white and the sores have mostly gone, except for the odd red spot on one of the hens who seems to be getting pecked the most.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Chicken feathers are mostly protein, so upping protein (like during molt) should help speed recovery.

Whether that’s through a higher protein feed or by supplement with lean protein (mealworm are high protein but also high fat) probably depends on what you have available.