feather eating

[Dust Bunny]

one of my hens is picking feathers and eating them, do they need more protean? they get layer pellets, oats, scratch and range, can somebody tell me why she is doing this? its really crummy, she is pulling out turkeys new pinfeathers, making her bleed! will the other birds follow suit? can she be broken of this? or should she go to freezer camp?

 

[BarkerChickens]

It's a protein issue. If there feed is 16% protein layer pellets (most common around here anyway) and they get oats and scratch, they are probably not getting enough protein. Our flock had the same issue. We changed over to 20% breeder pellets and it helped us. Either increase their protein in the pellets or cut back on the oats and scratch. You can throw cat food out there too.