I’m pretty sure I have a feather picker or two in my flock. I’ve got 9 hens and 1 rooster. The rooster was a surprise, he was sold to me as a hen..but we love the crazy fella anyway. Anyhoo… I have a mixed flock, 3 RIR hens, 4 silver laced Wyandottes, and 2 black Australorps (I think, not entirely sure of their breed). At first I thought the rooster was just overly aggressive in mating and that was the cause of the feather loss. I got a couple saddles and put them on the two girls who seemed to be his favorite. However I’ve come to realize that he is actually very gentle and that something else is the cause of the feather loss. I removed the saddles recently because they seemed to be drawing more unwanted attention. I’ve looked for mites and lice and found no signs. My RIR’s seem to be at the top of the pecking order and none of them are missing any feathers which leads me to believe they are the bullies. This flock has been together since they were day old chicks. We had to brood them in the garage in a doggie playpen longer than we planned due to delays in getting our outdoor coop built but had no feather plucking problems the entire time they were together in the garage. They moved to the coop just before Christmas. Only after we moved them outside did we notice this issue become a problem which I find odd since they now have way more space. The coop is 4x8 with two 8 foot roost bars. The run is 8x24 with a kiddie pool dust bath, gravity feeders, swing and enrichment available. Feed is a 20% protein all flock with scratch grains, mealworms and kitchen scraps several times a week. I have not seen the RIR’s actually pull feathers, but they do peck at the other girls pretty consistently. I’m at my wits end and I feel so bad for the gals who seem to be getting picked on. I’m getting 6 eggs a day pretty regularly and I’m fairly certain the RIRs are the producers of 3 of those so culling would be a last resort.
What can I do to curb this behavior and help the gals who seem to be the victims heal more quickly? I cannot find an anti peck solution and I cannot have 4 house chickens. It’s just not feasible.
Attaching pics of my most picked on girls and arrival view of the coop/run (still needs paint and a few touch ups that’ll happen this spring.) Part of the run is separated off to house our 3 ducks but the chickens have approximately 130 sqf of run access.
Thanks for any suggestions.
What can I do to curb this behavior and help the gals who seem to be the victims heal more quickly? I cannot find an anti peck solution and I cannot have 4 house chickens. It’s just not feasible.
Attaching pics of my most picked on girls and arrival view of the coop/run (still needs paint and a few touch ups that’ll happen this spring.) Part of the run is separated off to house our 3 ducks but the chickens have approximately 130 sqf of run access.
Thanks for any suggestions.
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