feather picking

[Chick CJ]

My 19 week old BR Bantam "Alfie" has been laying for 8 days now (every day so far) and yesterday I noticed her picking feathers off of all my big girls butts and eating them. At first I thought she was pecking them as her and her three best friends (the other bantams in my flock) are at the top of the pecking order and my bigger girls at the bottom, but as I sat and watched I realized she was just picking out the fuzzy bottom feathers and eating them, which hardly seemed to cause a stir among them. I thought I read somewhere that feather eating could be a sign they need more protein, can someone share if this is true and if so what do I give her. They are getting organic layer mash always available, they free range pretty much all day, scratch as a treat only, sometimes leftovers usually veggies and fruit stuff, sometimes warm oatmeal in the morning, and of course fresh water at their disposal.
Thanks, CJ

 

[chicmom]

You are right! Pecking can be a sign of the hen needing more protein. You could boil some of your extra eggs and feed them back to her, or provide some earthworms or maggots or crickets........

 

[Chick CJ]

Thanks. My husband went out and turned over some boards today where the girls were free ranging and he said they had a field day with earthworms! I bought some sunflower seeds today and was thinking of getting the meal worms since I know they love them. Do you know how many meal worms you should feed to a pullet in a day?
CJ