I live in NH. I have seven chickens . All are different, Black sex linked, Barred Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Red, Salmon Favorelle, Buff Brahma, Americauna, Buff Orpington. This is my first flock of chickens.. They are eight months old. All are laying great, except for the Americauna .They have a small coop with sheltered run , but the door is left open for them to raom about out fenced yard. They have several places to go to scratch around that are protected, and still dirt...under a porch..the shed..etc. On very cold days I light a woodstove in the shed and leave the door open and they can come and go as they please. We do not heat the coop, and our coop design is based more on the "open air " design than those that are closed. In warm weather, there are two doors at one end that have hardware cloth on them. Presently, the doors are covered with a weather resistent fabric to block wind, but to still allow air circulation. ..Also they are all heavy breed chickens. I clean their coop weekly, use mite strips to prevent a problem and spead DE in their dust bath area..and around the run. They are on Agway brand layer feed. They also have a compost pile that I keep shoveled out, and continue to add to. My birds were beautiful and happy...until the first snowstorm. On that day I locked them in their coop/run...Up until this time I had done that occasionally anyway...On that day my Rhode Island Red started pulling feathers out and eating them. ...I at first tried giving them cat food..which attracted every stray cat in the neighborhood! I have given them assorted bird feed /blocks with extra protein ..I have sprayed them with Cease anti-pick spray..Rooster Booster anti-pick lotion. I have cut out the scratch..I have searched the internet for an answer. Now, all of my birds seem to be pecking each other . Only the RIR still looks good, second to the sex linked, and the Americauna getting it the worst. It started with pecking around the neck an then the top of the head, and now the back, forward of the tail feathers. No skin has been broken. I do find feathers here and there..and in the nests. But I know some are being eaten..I rarely actually see what is going on, but this morning my husband caught the Orpington picking the neck of the Brahma..and when he picked up the Orpington, the Favorelle went after the Orpington! It has been very cold here, and my birds have gotten frostbitten on their combs..the Plymouth Rock especially, she had a little flop on her comb. I did put Vaseline on ...The thing is, they were seemingly not getting frostbitten at night, I would notice redness at the end of the day after they had been poking around the yard in 10 degree weather...seemingly fine. Adore our birds! Any suggestions welcome..
