Feather pecker

[tarnte]

I have 3 hens (BO, RIR and SLW) about 10 months old. We started to see some feather missing from the SLW and later with the BO. The SLW has bare butt now. Although the RIR is lower in pecking order than the BO, she is the culprit here. I really need advice how to stop this behavior. We tried pinless peeper for some time but she still wouldn’t stop pecking. We also tried Blu-klote to cover the SLW’s butt as well as Rooster Booster Peck No More, she still would not stop.

I thought about protein deficiency but she is free feeding with layer feed (scratch and peck). I also gave her a lot of mealworms as treat for protein supplement. As for space, they are free to roam around my backyard (30x65 ft) with grass area and dust bath area. I’m running out of idea to stop her behavior. Overall, she’s very friendly with me and will let me hold her all the time. Thank you.

 

[so lucky]

Can you identify when she does the picking? Like when the victims try to eat, or on the roost at night, or could it be a territorial issue, or.....could it be out of boredom? Although with the whole back yard to roam around in, I don't see why she would be bored.

 

[tarnte]

Can you identify when she does the picking? Like when the victims try to eat, or on the roost at night, or could it be a territorial issue, or.....could it be out of boredom? Although with the whole back yard to roam around in, I don't see why she would be bored.

She doesn’t have a specific time. Mostly she picks when she sees the other hens’ butt in front of her. Like just now they were eating grass/weed in the yard next to each other and she just picked a bunch of feather from the BO’s butt. I scolded her and she still tried to pick more.

 

[50-45-1]

Put the pinless peepers back on her untill the feathers are grown back in on your other hens. It will not hurt her, and she can not peck when they are on.
Otherwise comercial egg producers clip the beaks of ther birds to stop picking. In my opinion that whole system is horrible.
Or, you may have to cull her. Not something i think you want.

 

[tarnte]

Put the pinless peepers back on her untill the feathers are grown back in on your other hens. It will not hurt her, and she can not peck when they are on.
Otherwise comercial egg producers clip the beaks of ther birds to stop picking. In my opinion that whole system is horrible.
Or, you may have to cull her. Not something i think you want.

Thank you. After a month of wearing the peepers, she reduced her pecking habit, however, after she started to get used to the peepers and she began to peck again. I really don’t want to clip her beak. That sounds inhumane to me. I will be separating her from others and observe her more.

 

[aart]

I scolded her

Yeah, that's not going to work.
Personally, after all you've tried, I'd get rid of this bird...she's incorrigible.