BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[CanadianBuckeye]

Not interested in cat kibble?

Usually feather picking is a space issue and birds with nothing better to do than pick at one another....or so I've been told. I've no experience with it at all....many breeds and many birds over the past 40 yrs but have never had a single feather picker, so it could very well be a space issue...I free range and that could be why I've never seen it.

Yeah I was surprised, it's expensive, holistic meaty kibble too in tiny perfect chick size pellets

It very well could be because they are starting to get cramped, the second coop will be ready this week hopefully that will end the problem. They are outside too, in what I thought was enough space with grass and stuff to pick at but maybe it's not enough. That could be very well where the problem started. I've watched the feather pickers, they run after the other chicks persistently pulling feathers. Some breeds and chicks are showing zero inclination to feather pick, so they get to stay. The others, well goodbye I'm sure they will re visit the habit when it gets cozy in the wintertime again.

 

[Dave C]

I'm sure they will improve when there outside pal, as soon as they discover bugs & flys to chase it will keep them entertained.

 

[Beekissed]

Some of My Buff Plymouth Rocks are 6 weeks now
They have a decent shape but not much weight to them, now at 430g.




They are not in my project plans for next year but possibly later depending how things shape up.

If there's one thing I've learned about Rocks in these past few years is that they seem to be small for a bit and then all the sudden you have a big bird on your hands. Slower to grow out but the meat is much more densely compacted than other breeds , so more meat later on. Just look at those breasts!!! I've not raised any other breed that shows breasts that early on except meat birds.

 

[DesertChic]

LOL Dave You never have to say you are sorry with chickens, that's the good thing!

Looks like I have hatched a bunch of feather picking b@stards. I don't think they have an excuse, but perhaps the protein levels aren't high enough? I started them off at 28%. then dropped to 22% at five weeks, then at six weeks 17.5%. The feed has meat protein in it and I have offered them cat kibble. They aren't really interested in it. I believe they have enough space, and they are outside each day but not free ranging, they have grass and greens and food and water 24/7.
These are all Buckeye crosses, the worst are the Buckeye/production red, I even have pure buckeyes doing it. The Dark Cornish, Buff Rocks, barred Hollands and Buckeye/cornish crosses are not feather picking. . And I mean bad picking, running after other chicks and pulling feathers non stop. The perpetrators have all been removed from the flock, I understand it can be a learned behaviour and possibly genetic so I certainly don't want more of these. Any thoughts? Ugh. I will cull all of them if I have to :-/

I had two very persistent feather pickers, not quite as bad as you described but close. As it your situation it made no sense to me why these two girls were so horrible. I put them on 18-20% protein feed and they still wouldn't stop. Then my son left our freezer door open and we didn't find out until the next day. Half of the meat was thawed and I had no time to cook that much meat....so I fed two pounds of raw ground pork to my chickens rather than let it go to waste. The feather has picking stopped completely since then, and all of my birds are feathering out beautifully now. @Turk Raphael is right...the quality of the protein is so important. That one mistake taught me a HUGE lesson.

 

[Kev]

I had two very persistent feather pickers, not quite as bad as you described but close. As it your situation it made no sense to me why these two girls were so horrible. I put them on 18-20% protein feed and they still wouldn't stop. Then my son left our freezer door open and we didn't find out until the next day. Half of the meat was thawed and I had no time to cook that much meat....so I fed two pounds of raw ground pork to my chickens rather than let it go to waste. The feather has picking stopped completely since then, and all of my birds are feathering out beautifully now. @Turk Raphael is right...the quality of the protein is so important. That one mistake taught me a HUGE lesson.

Ouch.... came home after long weekend to a smelly house... refrig died. Had to toss everything as everything looked and smelled like they were at room temperature(and you know exactly how HOT that is for us lol) for 2 days or so. UGH. You have my sympathies, glad you managed to get some use out of that incident.

I had a feather picking issue in the recent crop of chicks. Due to not having incubator and several different project lines I have to do few but big batches of very different chicks. The "oriental mix" chicks suddenly started to pick at the bigger and much more placid meat mixes.. to the point one died and several had bloodied tails and elbows. They targeted primarily the white chicks, apparently the red shows through their pin feathers just too temptingly.. what I did was separate all the whites and added eggs to chick starter(22%, no animal protein- not my choice! Grr).. basically, wet the mash, break eggs over it and stir. They love it and the picked seemed to stop overnight.. however I noticed all of the chicks from an EE hen were literally hunting for pin feathers- going from chick to chick despite the addition of eggs. So all the EE and oriental mix chicks are now separated from the rest.. chicks are feathering out like crazy, but there is still some evidence of feather picking in the oriental/EE group. To be honest I've thought of culling all of those, even though I love how the adults look. It's so frustrating.

From what I've read, there certainly can be a genetic aspect to feather picking and sure looked like it from the recent experience as the meat mixes are all feathering out really well and fast, did not see any attempt at picking from those- aside from when the oriental/ee were still with them, they did become interested in the bloody tails but not 'hard core'. They seemed to take a bite then go hmm that tastes good.. while the others were like wood peckers, very intense about it too.

 

[DesertChic]

Ouch.... came home after long weekend to a smelly house... refrig died. Had to toss everything as everything looked and smelled like they were at room temperature(and you know exactly how HOT that is for us lol) for 2 days or so. UGH. You have my sympathies, glad you managed to get some use out of that incident.

I had a feather picking issue in the recent crop of chicks. Due to not having incubator and several different project lines I have to do few but big batches of very different chicks. The "oriental mix" chicks suddenly started to pick at the bigger and much more placid meat mixes.. to the point one died and several had bloodied tails and elbows. They targeted primarily the white chicks, apparently the red shows through their pin feathers just too temptingly.. what I did was separate all the whites and added eggs to chick starter(22%, no animal protein- not my choice! Grr).. basically, wet the mash, break eggs over it and stir. They love it and the picked seemed to stop overnight.. however I noticed all of the chicks from an EE hen were literally hunting for pin feathers- going from chick to chick despite the addition of eggs. So all the EE and oriental mix chicks are now separated from the rest.. chicks are feathering out like crazy, but there is still some evidence of feather picking in the oriental/EE group. To be honest I've thought of culling all of those, even though I love how the adults look. It's so frustrating.

From what I've read, there certainly can be a genetic aspect to feather picking and sure looked like it from the recent experience as the meat mixes are all feathering out really well and fast, did not see any attempt at picking from those- aside from when the oriental/ee were still with them, they did become interested in the bloody tails but not 'hard core'. They seemed to take a bite then go hmm that tastes good.. while the others were like wood peckers, very intense about it too.

Now that you mention it, I've heard a lot of feather picking complaints from people with EE and Ameraucanas. I even know one local breeder who culled all but three of her pure Ameraucanas because they were all feather picking very badly, and one of my most persistent feather pickers was an EE. (The other was a Dorking-mix, but she's just a really nasty bird all the way around.)

 

[cyborg]

OK @duluthralphie, this one will get your goat up. I subscribe to a magazine called Backyard Poultry, and they have also an online thing called Countrysidenetwork.com. They have a Countryside living daily stories, etc. This morning, they posted an article called "4 things I learned about growing meat chickens", and it is all the regular horror stories about them laying in their own poop, incapable of free ranging or even moving more than a foot at a time, incapable of crowing, incapable of breeding, yada, yada, yada. I posted a rebuttal this morning in the comments section, but it is still " awaiting moderation".

 

[Beekissed]

Made my hackles raise....I left a comment. Doubt if they will post it, though....truth is not exactly in the forefront of their interests, judging from this incredibly ill-informed article.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

If there's one thing I've learned about Rocks in these past few years is that they seem to be small for a bit and then all the sudden you have a big bird on your hands. Slower to grow out but the meat is much more densely compacted than other breeds , so more meat later on. Just look at those breasts!!! I've not raised any other breed that shows breasts that early on except meat birds.

I ordered five hatchery buff rocks just for fun this spring, I like the colour and wanted a few around. They are incredibly sweet tempered, but very lightweight for rocks and mostly feathers at 8 weeks of age. They are a pleasant surprise. The buff rocks and the barred hollands were getting picked on the most, both breeds I believe originated from Ideal. I like them, and I'm looking forward to seeing them all grown up. The barred hollands were very quick to mature, a Holland rooster started crowing at 6 weeks (well, gargling, not really crowing). At eight weeks I'm very pleased with both breeds.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Ouch.... came home after long weekend to a smelly house... refrig died. Had to toss everything as everything looked and smelled like they were at room temperature(and you know exactly how HOT that is for us lol) for 2 days or so. UGH. You have my sympathies, glad you managed to get some use out of that incident.

I had a feather picking issue in the recent crop of chicks. Due to not having incubator and several different project lines I have to do few but big batches of very different chicks. The "oriental mix" chicks suddenly started to pick at the bigger and much more placid meat mixes.. to the point one died and several had bloodied tails and elbows. They targeted primarily the white chicks, apparently the red shows through their pin feathers just too temptingly.. what I did was separate all the whites and added eggs to chick starter(22%, no animal protein- not my choice! Grr).. basically, wet the mash, break eggs over it and stir. They love it and the picked seemed to stop overnight.. however I noticed all of the chicks from an EE hen were literally hunting for pin feathers- going from chick to chick despite the addition of eggs. So all the EE and oriental mix chicks are now separated from the rest.. chicks are feathering out like crazy, but there is still some evidence of feather picking in the oriental/EE group. To be honest I've thought of culling all of those, even though I love how the adults look. It's so frustrating.

From what I've read, there certainly can be a genetic aspect to feather picking and sure looked like it from the recent experience as the meat mixes are all feathering out really well and fast, did not see any attempt at picking from those- aside from when the oriental/ee were still with them, they did become interested in the bloody tails but not 'hard core'. They seemed to take a bite then go hmm that tastes good.. while the others were like wood peckers, very intense about it too.

Ugh that's got to be so frustrating and disappointing. I culled a very promising Buckeye pullet for feather picking. Sad, but I just can't have that behaviour in my flock. I've noticed that the buff rock chicks, the dark cornish and the barred Hollands never bother the other chicks. the pickers were actively chasing other chicks and pulling feathers. Nasty.