Feather picking help.

[bulldog-girl]

I have read all the old threads on this and have a couple of ??? What I thought was heavy molt has turned into feather picking on a couple of my girls. They are similar looking-redish X of some sort. Anyway, read that you can make your own Hot pick type ointment with peppers and vasaline. My questions is that some of the areas that are picked are a little red. Wouln't any type of product be it Hot Pick, blue kote or homemade-hurt the poor chicken if the skin is sore? I don't want to hurt the birdies but this has to stop. I don't know who is doing the picking and the birds have a huge coop and free range in a huge area for daylight hours. There is no light in the coop and they are getting the time off from laying. Great diet and very healthy. This has just started in the last couple of weeks. We don't have a roo and hubby won't let me get one.

 

[sewincircle]

I sure wish I could help, but everything I can think of you have already!
You dont have a light on in coop, I have a red one to avoid it. I have never used any of those ointments before either. Are there any open sores?

About the roo...hmm how against them is he? I love mine. My husband thought we HAD to have one to get eggs. hmmm....who told him that? hehehe!

 

[TurtleChick]

one of my naughty lil girls was feather picking, and what has FINALLY gotten her to stop (two of them were her victims) was Rooster Booster "Pick-No-More Lotion" - and it's directions specifically say "use applicator tip to apply to wounded area"... neither of my girls had an open wound, but their skin was pretty pink and sore-looking. i initially put it on daily for about 9 days, now i'm putting it on about every other day. and now, there are downy little feathers and lots of pinfeathers coming back! yay! there's no one remedy that works for everyone - i know some have said theirs just ate the rooster booster or blue kote or pine tar... but this worked for me!

also, when this first happened with our ladies, i read up on all of the reasons picking can start, and we expanded our run to about twice it's original size in case the girls felt crowded; i added yogurt and black oil sunflower seeds in case they needed extra protein; i made myself be MUCH better about making sure they get at least 2hours a day of free ranging time; i throw a handful of scratch in their house at night so that they have something to scratch around for inside until i come and let them out in the morning; i've been throwing leaves in their run and sprinkling their sunflower seeds in them so that they can amuse themselves for hours making sure they got ALL of them; a whole squash now and then for something to peck at all day long; pretty much anything i can think of to keep them too busy to think about picking feathers!.... - so make sure you address the "why did this start?" as well as the "what to do about it?"!

good luck!

 

[Big Red's Mom]

I have just gotten my girls to stop. They even pulled the outer chest feathers out of my Roo. I still have one hen trying to grow feathers from the mess they made of her behind.

I tried pine tar.....It is very messy...they do not like it but it really didn't stop the problem, just slowed them down.

My uncle suggested Cat food. I found some natural (no color added) cat food at the feed store. I give them a cup full every day. I throw it on the ground and they go wild. It is 35% protein. Mine stopped picking and eating each others feathers and they are growing feathers back just fine. I did use Blue Liquid to cover the pink skin to keep them from making sores on each other. It will also show you who is picking. They will have blue (purple) becks.

Good luck.