Feather Picking

[rosemarythyme]

I can give that a try. I do have a small roost on the one end of the run, seen in the first photo I posted, opposite the little jungle gym. Would that be an issue if they are up there and fly down from that? With the jungle gym in the middle of the run, it would be in the way of them jumping down from that. I can always remove that, or change the position of the roost to connect to the tower.

Shouldn't be an issue with the roosts in the corner, however it's hard to tell until they try using it with the gym in the way. You may need to make tweaks with positioning of things - I'm constantly moving things around the run to account for weather, potholes the chickens have dug, etc.

And yes the feather explosion sounds like a lighter all over molt, especially with the pin feathers and the "feathers flying off when they flap." So that might them behave a little off, as they're crankier than usual.

 

[aart]

I'm constantly moving things around the run to account for weather, potholes the chickens have dug, etc.

Same here.......and just to change things up for diversion.

Chuckles..... reminds me of 'hiding' a lot of my children's toys and swapping them out every once in a awhile.

 

[Duckfarmer1]

Yes, it's a rule of the universe. When your plate is so full you can barely think straight, the universe finds it amusing for some reason to pile even more on.

Your bare neck hen won't get frost bite on her bare neck. There's adequate body heat emerging to keep that from happening. But be sure she has eaten plenty before roosting to create the body heat.

Your feather picking victim needs to be kept safe from the feather picker. It's moot while she's confined during her recovery, but when she goes back to the flock, the picking victim needs to be kept in a separate place in order to break the cycle of victimhood. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-bully-chicken-victim-a-two-sided-issue.73923/

As for the picker, that could be why she's got crop issues. Feather eating can be a pica issue. That means the hen may have a compulsion to eat feathers, a lot of feathers. Some people think feather picking is from lack of protein in the diet. Maybe sometimes, but it can also be a very stubborn behavioral issue with no easy answers.

Sometimes pinless peepers helps. I've tried that with mixed success. The problem is that some pickers learn to see well enough wearing peepers that their feather picking is barely slowed down. I had two such hens last year. Both wore peepers and then I took them off after a couple months. Feather picking hasn't resumed so far, but spring is the worst time for picking to occur and that's still ahead of me.

Keeping your chickens from getting bored is one of the best ways to discourage feather picking. Flock blocks, hanging carrots, juice bottle with holes drilled into them and filled with scratch grain to roll around and peck at are all great entertainment. Free ranging in decent weather is even better.

How do you know who the feather picker is? I have one hen with a bare neck....the rest are totally normal and they now have more space than ever with the coop renovation, and our mean rooster is gone. Plus, the chickens are allowed more freedom to free range a few hours in the morning....so, space is not an issue..,and the run is huge....we call it the play area because of its size. But, I have never seen any hen picking at her. I did see the hens pick at the rooster

 

[azygous]

That's one of the insidious things about feather picking. It's usually a very furtive activity, almost as if the culprit is feeling guilty and is sneaky about practicing their evil vice.

When you have only a hand full of chickens, you can usually identify the picker by looking for the one with perfect plumage. In a flock with 20 chickens as I have, you are reduced to sitting and observing and hoping you catch a glimpse of the illicit activity.

I've been fighting feather picking ever since I began keeping chickens twelve years ago. Fall and winter it drops off to practically no picking, and in early spring, right now, it picks up again. I just put pinless peepers back on my worst picker today. My two roosters have had their beautiful new neck feathers for all of two weeks and they are already looking chewed up and frazzled. It makes me want to scream.

But I have an idea I'm about to try. If it works, I'll be announcing it to the four winds. This is the idea. I'm going to segregate my main pickers each morning for a special feeding of psyllium. (unsweetened without aspartame or sugar since these are very bad for chickens) I just ordered some from Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...c45-cd78f07a84d8&pf_rd_r=CYRKXZMQZHV46T1QA45P

My theory, and that's all it is at this point, is that some feather picking may be a form of pica where things without nutritional value are compulsively consumed. Psyllium provides the roughage that consuming feathers provides, and also causes a full feeling. It would have the added benefit of providing moisture in the crop to safeguard against impaction of the crop due to consuming so much undigestible material. This is a shot in the dark since feather picking has so many causes, we realistically can't expect to find one fits-all treatment, but I figure it's worth a try.

 

[Folly's place]

I think that often it's about who roosts next to whom, and watching to see who's next to the balding bird helps ID the culprit.
Since I've given up on having production reds, I haven't had real issues with this vice.
When I did ID one of these birds, I rehomed her with full disclosure, to another flock.
Mary

 

[vantain]

My surveillance camera in the run has shown me who the culprit is. That much I know.

 

[azygous]

My feather pickers are all traditional breeds. The worst is an EE. The Speckled Sussex that died a couple weeks ago was also a top picker. My other pickers are a Welsummer, a Cream Legbar, and a Light Brahma who is nearly twelve years old and almost blind. She can barely find her food so I am left to wonder how she can see to yank feathers, but nevertheless I watch her do it.

 

[Folly's place]

I guess I've been lucky here for a long time then.
My last one was a Belgian d'Uccle hen, and she moved to another flock.
Mary

 

[ariri30]

I had one feather picker. I tried everything to solve the issue but at the end my fried dispatched him to freezer camp. I couldn’t deal with it.