Ever made a hat for your chicken?

[taprock]

I have a sweet little Polish girl who is low in pecking order. One large hen has plucked her crest feathers. Now that she is bald she gets picked on more. If it is possible I want to make her a little hat until her feathers grow out again. Am I crazy or is it possible?

 

[CMV]

I can't see how the hat would be of any benefit. Instead of picking at her feathers they will be picking at her hat. The hat will be off in less than a minute unless you duct tape it to her head. Interesting idea in theory, but the practical application may not be possible.

Good luck.

 

[Crumbling Beauty]

I think it's worth trying.

There are chicken saddles and chicken diapers; why not a chicken hat? If you used a somewhat thick material, with some spandex/elastic content, and made the hat very close fitting. . . I've noticed that many people just use duct tape (which makes their chickens look sad, to me). I don't know if your polish would keep her hat on, but it would be interesting to know if chicken hats are possible. I'm not sure what the long term solution for the bullying would be, though.

Good luck

.

 

[ikatiemay]

my roo has ripped all the feathers out of his favorite girls head in a 1/4 inch band. I have been trying to figure out something to protect her. She already wears one of Tesses aprons with the wing protector. Poor girl, it sucks to be popular!

 

[Freestylester Silkie's]

Mayby you can make something like a head and neck protector for horses during transport.
It covers the head and neck, so it will stay better on.
I can send you a drawing of what i mean if you like.
Good luck with it.

 

[juliette2009]

This is an interesting concept...I'm looking forward to seewing what develops from this!

 

[NorthTexaschick]

You might consider separating her from the others along with another that won't pick her. I had a sweet Polish pullet that got pecked on the head until it killed her. I had no idea it was that bad. I had been putting no-pick on her and she was not even pecked bloody, so I didn't realize she was in mortal danger.

Now, I'm assuming that's what killed her. She had not been acting ill, and the rest of my flock were healthy, too. No other injuries that I could find. So it's possible that something else was the cause of her death, but I can't imagine what it would be.

Good luck to you!

 

[Backyard Hencam]

Your post brought back memories of our dear Rosie. I used Rooster Booster with some success. I wrote about it on my website Backyard Hencam. Eventually the feathers grew back but the pecking never really stopped. It was heartbreaking. Best of luck.

Sorry, I tried to make a link to my story of Rosie but I can't. If you'd like you can cut and paste the following: http://www.backyardhencam.com/raising-chickens/rosies-pecked-head-bottom-of-pecking-order/

 

[taprock]

Well sadly the hat concept is not needed, we lost our girl. Not sure how to link it but under stories it's titled Ms. Hook. Her feathers had started to come back in as they have been out free ranging. We got hit with the snow, ice, rain, wind this weekend and they had to stay in. We found her dead trying to hide, I think she broke her neck.

I still may try the hat in the future. My husband says if I can make a hat to stay on a golf ball it should stay on a chickens head. I have a bald rooster at the moment that could still benefit from the hat.

 

[Freestylester Silkie's]

I am sorry to hear you have lost her.

Good luck with your rooster anyway.