feather picking question

[Garden Gal]

Quote:
highcountrychickens, your tribute to your incredible grandmother made me smile and warmed my heart. We should all be so lucky as to impact just one person's life as this ol' gal did yours. How fortunate you are to have had her in your life!

 

[TK Poultry]

well i was gonna try the cabbage thing maybe the heat lamp thing and the vicks vapor rub thing to start out with i need them to have their beards before April for their first show they dont look sq b/c they pick out eachothers' beards!!!!

 

[parrillofarms]

i have heard of using petroleum jelly to stop picking cause they don't like the taste but i have never seen it done.

 

[Momo]

It's a problem with Ameraucanas: the beard feathers get wet when the chickens drink, then they get coated with bits of food and next thing you know they're walking around with a picnic hanging from their face and neck. Some individuals seem to be messier drinkers than others and they do get their beards plucked out. Plus for some reason the girls love to pluck the boys' beard feathers!

 

[ElizabethinNY]

Highcountrychickens, thanks for giving me a much-needed laugh!

I've been battling with a feather-picking issue in my flock for about a month or so and it has been driving me wild and your page cracked me up!

 

[TK Poultry]

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its horrible and they have shows to go to and they cant go with NO BEARDS! its soo furstrating!

 

[poultrypatch]

HCC........I just read you BYC page re picking ! Loved it. I also loved reading about your grammy. I too am a grammy, and each and evety child is different. She seemed like quite the woman. Glad you had her to leave such a mark on you. I hope I do with my gran kids too.
Liz
Rochester, MA

 

[highcountrychickens]

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Hee hee... it is a battle, isn't it? I found the whole thing just as funny as I found it frustrating - thanks for the kudos - I'm glad it made you grin

!!

Greencastle Ducks, have you looked into the Rooster Booster products? While I make a bit of fun of them on my page, my flock had an advanced problem ... I think it really does work well.

Look for deficiencies in their diet, maybe they're a bit stir crazy, ... I did try the cayenne pepper and learned both by experience and through wizened folks here that chickens can't taste capsacin, so the pepper is fairly useless as a deterrent.

The peepers seem to have the most success... and they don't have to be permanent - generally they fix the behavior in 4-6 weeks... and they can still eat and function completely normally - they just can't zero in on target feathers, so stop the habit.

You do want to nip it in the bud very soon, because this is a behavior that will run rampant through a flock... I was told the only way to cure an advanced case of it is to cull the offenders (was told probably correctly that you can't rehome a chicken that does this, because it will cause problems in a new flock)

Keep us posted how it's going.

 

[highcountrychickens]

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[TK Poultry]

ok the war has begun vicks has been applied and white heat lamp used now im going to apply vicks daily until they stop ive seperated some but it was only three so i put one with my little lavender cockerel then i added a old grouchy hen to stop it all maybe shell lay down the law