Continuous and reoccurring feather lost- Help about to give up on the girl

[Coop4SpiceGirls]

We have a Barred Plymouth Rock 4-5 months old, who came as a ready-to-lay to us in June. On the trip from the hatchery, one her 3 casemates badly de-feathered her. No blood, but really raw. We got gave “Henible Lecture” to a friend with roosters and separated “Pepper’ from the other 6 hens we have (In dog crate in the hen pen). She did okay for a while, so we let her out and I made a hen saddle ..things were going well. We went on vacation and her saddle came off, our hen-sitter didn’t want to touch a chicken so we came back to another bare spot...we got a professional hen saddle, and again she was doing better...but when it rains and the hens hide under the coop - they seem to take their boredom out on her. Her bare spot got bigger and we noticed she was doing it too. We’ve separated her again from the rest and she seems to be doing it to herself - she wears the saddle so she is making herself bare around her but. We have tried no-pick and blue kote. Blue Kote worked well, but then we learned it is considered a carcinogen and not to be used on animals used for food (in Canada - I realize everything in California is considered a carcinogen). Last night I tried covered her with hydrocortisone cream....but I’m about to give up on her. I’m pretty sure it‘s not parasites/mites.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Feather picking is usually from a protein deficiency or crowding and boredom. So what are you feeding? And how big of an area do you keep them in, and how many birds.

 

[Coop4SpiceGirls]

They are being feed a layer feed pellet with a protein crumb both from SureGain I think. I’ve been scrambling up her own egg for her daily. We only have 7 chickens and they have a large coop 6’x4’ with 6 nest boxes and a large dirt and vegetation pen area 20’ x 16’. I was really hoping the separation would work, but it looks like she is eating her own pin feathers And is starting to eat some of her own featers around her tail. I was considered making a Chicken cone out of a paper cup to see if it would prevent her from over preening herself, but I have no idea if this work work. She a cut girl , but I live in Ottawa Canada and our evenings are already going into freezing temperatures. (-1 Celsius) .

 

[Eggcessive]

If the BluKote helped, I would continue to use it and put her back with the others. Gentian violet (the active ingredient in BluKote,) used to be put into infant’s mouths for treatment of thrush as recently as the 70’s, so I would not be concerned about it. Pine tar for horse hoves in feed stores is also an old time antipeck product. I would also feed some extra hight protein treats, such as scrambled eggs or a small amount of canned tuna or canned cat food. Let them out in the daytime to roam as much as possible. Boredom, too little room inside a coop, and too little protein in the diet, or too much light in the coop can all lead to feather picking. Pinless peepers would be a last consideration to use just on the suspected peckers.
https://www.eggcartons.com/Pinless-Peepers-p/article-1.htm