Feather picking at 4pm and up.

[oldhenlikesdogs]

They get a head of cabbage a week (hanging). Strawberry head scraps and sometimes grapes. They go out in a chicken tractor when its not raining and at night, to get them back into the main coup, they get BOSS. In the winter they were getting a cup of cracked corn at night but I have stopped that since its not too cold out.

They are getting too many low protein snacks. Cut out the corn and boss, and keep feeding higher protein stuff, maybe switch to a higher protein ration like a game bird, non medicated chick starter, or a meat maker. Keep a separate dish of oyster shells free choice.

 

[BlueShadow]

Quote:
You have a nice setup for three birds. Plenty of space and good entertainment for them when the weather is nice. So that leaves us at food and bad habit as most likely reasons for the feather picking.

I agree with the above comment, you need to cut the treats way back so that their diet is nearly entirely chicken feed. Do you really need to use treats to get them in the coop? If so, make that the only treat of the day and make it SMALL, only 2 or 3 bites per bird.

 

[egg0]

I ran into feather picking about 2 winters ago. It was a flock of 18 or so. At that point, I cut down on their greens, sprayed them down with bluekote, isolated what I thought were the troublemakers, gave them meal worms in the morning. Nothing seemed to worked. I then bumped their feed from layer (16% protein) to a chick starter (22% protein). They were still feather picking. I futhered bumped it to a turkey starter (28% protein) and began noticing that the feather picking was dieing down within 2-3 weeks. HOWEVER, I've read the long term effect of the high protein on their body could be lethal. So I know I could not feed them it long. In addition, I have a yard full of greens that I wanted to continue to use to cut down on feed costs. Instead of trying to keep adjusting how much protein my feed should have while accounting for the large amount of greens I also wanted to give I went another route. So I have 2 no waste bucket feeder. I decided to leave one with the 16%. In the other, I left the 28% turkey starter. My thinking is that like a free range hen their be able to balance out their own diets. But I really had no idea if it will work or if they just eat the 28% turkey starter to death. I also have oysters shell on the side. Well a year and a half later the feather picking is still gone and no bird has died from this diet. My 16% layer feed does run out about 2-3 X faster that the 28% turkey starter. I'm not saying this is for everyone but it worked out for me.