hi all!
we started dealing with feather picking earlier this year. after much research about what might have started it, we corrected what we thought was wrong: expanded the run (from 8x5 to 8x10ish), cut down on treats and boosted protein (in the form of yogurt every morning and black oil sunflower seeds), started getting creative with ways to keep them busy on the days they don't get out of the run for free-range time, etc. unfortunately, the hen who originally got picked ON has never had a chance to get her feathers back - bare skin with little pin feathers is OH SO TEMPTING! i know who the pickING culprit is (she may be rehomed soon.... jury's still out on that one...), and just recently i saw another hen take a swipe at the picked butt. additionally, one other hen's tail/vent area seems to have become interesting and she's getting feather-picked as well.
with winter coming on, and the habit NOT going away (but perhaps starting to spread - EEP!) - i decided to get more proactive about helping the hens grow their feathers back. (i should note, after one initial incident, no blood has been drawn, although i check all the time to make sure no one has any injuries.) so. i marched off to the feed store intending to buy some pine tar and was convinced by the feed store staff to give the rooster booster "pick no more" a try. AND it seems to be working for our girls. i've been applying it daily for 4 or 5 days now. the first day they went around - all 4 of them - looooooooking at the funny blue stuff and tasting it - then running around shaking their heads and wiping their beaks (ew! ew! get if off! get it OFF!). second day they tasted once and went GROSS! by the third day they saw me coming with the bottle and started running around and shaking their heads.
it was pretty funny. now the bare-naked-skin-showing girls have several feathers growing back, so i'm going to keep at it.
just wanted to pass this on - i know no method works for everyone, but we seem to be having some success right now! if this doesn't ultimately work, we'll be going to the duct tape method!
we started dealing with feather picking earlier this year. after much research about what might have started it, we corrected what we thought was wrong: expanded the run (from 8x5 to 8x10ish), cut down on treats and boosted protein (in the form of yogurt every morning and black oil sunflower seeds), started getting creative with ways to keep them busy on the days they don't get out of the run for free-range time, etc. unfortunately, the hen who originally got picked ON has never had a chance to get her feathers back - bare skin with little pin feathers is OH SO TEMPTING! i know who the pickING culprit is (she may be rehomed soon.... jury's still out on that one...), and just recently i saw another hen take a swipe at the picked butt. additionally, one other hen's tail/vent area seems to have become interesting and she's getting feather-picked as well.
just wanted to pass this on - i know no method works for everyone, but we seem to be having some success right now! if this doesn't ultimately work, we'll be going to the duct tape method!
