Feather pickin' hen

[Trish1974]

What would cause my 11 month old Araucana pullet to become a feather picker? It started a little over a week ago. This pullet was in with another pullet I purchased with her at the end of February. The flockmate became ill a week and a half ago...long story short she died last Tuesday from what appeared to be Fatty Liver Disease. I noticed the feather picking a few days before the flockmate died. She remained by herself for 4 days, then I put a 7 1/2 month old cockerel in with her. She started feather picking him the next day. Today I got home and when I walked in their pen it looked as if a predator had been in there...HIS feathers were everywhere. She picked out just about every one of his saddle feathers.
What's really weird is she isn't eating them; just picking them out. They have free choice of Flock Raiser feed (which I believe is 20% protein?), a handful of a protein-based snack in the afternoon (meat, scrambled eggs, meal worms or BOSS), fresh water twice a day, and Hen Boost vitamins in their water 2-3xs/week. She appears to be healthy and lays a huge blue egg 5 times per week and has never laid one with a shell deformity.
Her and her mate are in a 10'x20' run, with perches, hideout shelters and straw to scratch through. She never appears "bored". Any idea on the cause and what I could do to stop it?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

She may be getting too much protein. Cut out all those protein treats. Substitute will lower protein treats like fruits and vegetables. Your hen that passed, was probably because of all the fatty treats. Cut out the meal worms and boss. They will cause internal fat that will lead to fatty liver.

 

[Criticalicious]

11 months old should be on layer feed, which has much less protein. 20% protein is for molting season only. Treats should be less than 10% of the daily diet, so definitely cut those out.

 

[Trish1974]

11 months old should be on layer feed, which has much less protein. 20% protein is for molting season only. Treats should be less than 10% of the daily diet, so definitely cut those out.

I thought higher protein was recommended for breeders? She is in with a cockerel, so layer feed is out.

 

[Trish1974]

You when that passed was probably because of all the fatty treats.

I only had her 3 1/2 weeks. They didn't even get treats then. She was feather picking before the supplemental protein was added.

 

[Ebony Rose]

Supplement her diet with split peas. They can be served dry or cooked, but mine will only eat them cooked; they're less bitter when cooked. Peas are a complete protein, containing 25 grams of protein per 100 grams of grain, but more importantly for birds, is the methionine and lysine levels. Both of these amino acids are used for good feathers and often lacking in today's corn and soy heavy premixed feeds.

Essential amino acids in split peas are marked with an asterisk (*).
% of total amino acids
Alanine 4.3
Arginine 8.6
Aspartic Acid 11.9
Cystine 0.9
Glutamic Acid 17.2
Glycine 4.1
Histidine* 2.5
Isoleucine* 4.8
Leucine* 8.5
Lysine* 7.5
Methionine* 1
Phenylalanine* 5.5
Proline 4.3
Serine 5.4
Threonine* 3.7
Tryptophan* 1
Tyrosine 3.8
Valine* 5

And if you don't mind the expense, a can of sardines packed in a high quality oil (olive and sunflower oil comes to mind), mixed in with her day's rations a couple times a month can go a long way to fill in nutritional gaps.

The above suggestions assume that it's a nutritional issue, but stress also causes chickens to start picking feathers too. Heat stress, new-neighbors stress, losing your clutch-mate stress, not enough clean water stress, etc... lots of things can stress a hen. If the problem persists, you can buy her some of those chicken glasses.

Best of luck to you

 

[Trish1974]

The above suggestions assume that it's a nutritional issue, but stress also causes chickens to start picking feathers too. Heat stress, new-neighbors stress, losing your clutch-mate stress, not enough clean water stress, etc... lots of things can stress a hen. If the problem persists, you can buy her some of those chicken glasses.

You may be on to something. It did start when her flockmate became visibly ill.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I only had her 3 1/2 weeks. They didn't even get treats then. She was feather picking before the supplemental protein was added.

Fatty liver comes from too much fat in the diet. If not from you than whoever you got her from. Hens should get 16-18% protein daily. Usually a ration will provide that. Too much protein can make them "hot" and agitated.

 

[Fairview01]

Some just do it and the only way to stop the dedicated ones is give them a one way ticket to camp Kenmore. And to make matters worse roosters for some reason will just stand there and submit to this behavior without complaint. One of the things you can try is coat the bare areas with pine tar. The stuff baseball players put on their wooden bat handles. Eventually she will get a mouthful of the stuff and that may stop her. It will also keep flies from biting the bare skin. What you dont want to have happen is for the hen to draw blood. If that happens it can be a half step to all out cannibalism. It worked for me.

Expect the rooster to get pretty dirty with the pine tar application. It's sticky stuff and will pick up all manner of dirt.

 

[aart]

Sounds like an integration issue to me....
Lone pullet just lost her buddy and you add a 7mo cockerel(and we know what's on his mind!) to her pen?
I'd beat the snot out of him too.