Feather pecking

[Phil S]

Help one of my golden laced hens is molting and started feather pecking her self she all so let's other hens peck her as we'll. if she had mites they all would right?

 

[chicmom]

Hello!

Couple of questions....Have you taken a look at her to make sure there are no lice or mites? You can actually see them crawling around on the skin. Just part the feathers and take a look.

Do you have a rooster? If so, she might be his favorite hen, and he might be mounting her alot. He will sometimes pull out the feathers on her neck and back because roosters are sometimes very rough.

If you don't find any parasites or there's no rooster, then she might be very low on the pecking order. She probably doesn't let the other hens peck her and pull out her feathers. They probably are doing it to her in an agressive way. Chickens can be really ruthless. They see a weaker hen, and they just really bully that particular hen sometimes.

You could get her a hen saddle. They're very inexpensive, and it looks like a little apron, only it's worn on the hen's back. They stay on very well, and it would protect her back from the pecking.

If you do have parasites, then you will need to get some poultry dust, powder up every chicken you have, and then totally gut your hen house and powder it up real good. And in two weeks, you powder up all your chickens again, which will kill any eggs that hatch from the darned lice or mites.

Hope this helps,
Sharon

 

[Phil S]

Thanks for the help We do not have a rooster and I checked her for mites I did not see any at all. I was thinking that the other hens are Pecking her and she is just pulling out the broken feather ends. Have you used that blue paint stuff at all?