Feather picking

[ontimeborzoi]

Let them out of the coop would be my suggestion. I have never had a feather picker in nearly ten years and many chickens, but I don't close my coop doors during the day, and if there is snow on the ground and they don't want to walk on it, spread a thin layer of straw. Or pine needles, or hay, or mulch...they will walk on that. They will follow a path of straw as if it was a sidewalk. Cold and blustery is a lot more uncomfortable to me than it is to them. Today I am in coastal Virginia and winters are temperate, but I spent 12 years in the upper elevations of West Virginia, with chickens, and they were out every day in every weather. They sure were not bored, and they never even thought about turning on one another.

 

[ChicKat]

Feather picking is the most frustrating, disappointing problem there is with chickens. I've tried everything in the past - pine tar, Pick-no-more, Blu-kote, even made my own home-made concoction of grape-Kool-aid and vaseline and Pepto Bismol. I fed extra high-grade protein. I gave them flock blocks. They free-ranged.

The thing that has solved and controlled the problem is installing pinless peepers on the ones with the urge to pick. These hens with the problem seem to have a brain disorder because they seem to have a manic urge to pick -pick-pick. As the day progresses, they get more and more wound up. Since they have been wearing the peepers, no problem.

And yes, it's been my experience that roosters can't bear disorder and bickering. They'll often try to put a stop to it. But a lot of feather picking is furtive, not creating much of a commotion.

azygous---

Thanks for the good insights. I cannot believe that this thread was started more than a year ago. Maybe some feather picking is seasonal?

I saw my Leghorn hybrid pecking and eating feathers off my little EE who, (drum roll please), just laid her first pullet egg today. I thought Leghorn had grown out of it. I went to this site for "bumpa bits"-- fits into the chicken's mouth a little like a bit on a horse and then clips into the nostrils. Well it is in the UK for one thing, and for another, you can only check out your shopping basket using PayPal--- (which I prefer anyway).
Only PayPal because the traditional cc check out disallows anything other than a UK postal code.

Hopefully there are no glitches, this produce crosses the pond thanks to the 'Royal Mail' and I can nip this little habit in the bud.

http://www.omlet.co.uk/shop/shop.ph...=10750&product_name=Bumpa+Bit+-+25mm+-+Single

I could up the protein, up the entertainment, up the space and all...and who knows Lily could still peck. She is a high energy bird. She just can't be too high maintenance and still fit in, so I am going to try to get the 'bumpa bit' and install in her beak and stop the feather picking. I'm lucky that there is no baldness-injury etc. as yet, but I don't want it to go that far.

 

[buckabucka]

Feather picking is the most frustrating, disappointing problem there is with chickens. I've tried everything in the past - pine tar, Pick-no-more, Blu-kote, even made my own home-made concoction of grape-Kool-aid and vaseline and Pepto Bismol. I fed extra high-grade protein. I gave them flock blocks. They free-ranged.

The thing that has solved and controlled the problem is installing pinless peepers on the ones with the urge to pick. These hens with the problem seem to have a brain disorder because they seem to have a manic urge to pick -pick-pick. As the day progresses, they get more and more wound up. Since they have been wearing the peepers, no problem.

And yes, it's been my experience that roosters can't bear disorder and bickering. They'll often try to put a stop to it. But a lot of feather picking is furtive, not creating much of a commotion.

I totally agree. This has been my experience exactly. It does seem like a brain disorder, which makes me think it stems from nutritional deficiencies before they even hatch.

 

[buckabucka]

I should add that in some cases I think it is caused by boredom or lack of protein, but not in the case of certain birds, especially those that start in as chicks.

 

[vintageozarks]

Tie a whole cabbage to a rope (hollow out the center of the cabbage so the rope fits through). Hang it from the rafters and your chickens will love you for it. The rooster will have something tasty to pick at. Your chickens need some greens. He's in a sour mood, almost going insane. Chickens are very intelligent and need variety and things to look forward to.

 

[azygous]

Cabbage "tetherball" is a popular food/sporting event in my run. I just screw a metal "eye"hook into the cabbage stem, then clip a carabiner through the eye and suspend it from a string or chain. It lasts the entire day. Good times! (The poop is rather pungent, though.) Oh, for a fun bit of variety, try purple cabbage. You end up with pink poop.

 

[7L Farm]

I could write a book on this subject. But after over a year of fighting this behaviour I finally fixed the problem. New the answer the whole time but never wanted to do the deed. One bullet to my Roos head fixed the problem. The Roo would pick their feathers & feed them too the girls. Once, the girls learned of this the girls joined in & the party began. The whole flock was picking at each other. Finally, the party was about over when Mr Drumstick thought he was head Roo & was gonna show me.Every time I would turn my back to this over grown chicken he would come at me. I never really turned my back on him I was always watching him out of the corner of my eye.
My instinct would kick in & I would kick him not a full on kick but slightly kick him. Well, one day he finally made a full on charge at me & I gave him a full on kick . I let him ride a few more days & saw that he was still trying to show me that he was the boss. Wrong, I loaded the 22 & one bullet to his head cured my feather picking problem.

 

[MamaFlewtheCoop]

I would like to thank you for suggesting free ranging the birds. Best thing possible.

 

[ravenseye57]

Pinless Peepers are on the way, I sure hope they help!
I do pasture my birds spring/summer/fall and that may be why I never had much trouble with this before. It's the young, energetic birds who are causing the trouble, and I think it all started with one crazy little chicken. The others learned the game from her. Mine do go outside from dawn-dusk, but days are short here (getting longer now, so that may help!) and I use lights to lengthen the days. It's the boring indoor hours that are the worst, but they do it outside too. They have only a small yard for winter (ten acres to roam in spring-fall), but I put leaves down for them to dig around in. The cabbage might help as evening entertainment, but I can hardly feed them a cabbage a day (?) so they're still going to be bored sometimes. It's not a total lack of greens, since I freeze extra greens from the garden for winter feeding and I sprout wheatberries and grow them a bit of grass too. I've read that it's because they should be spending all day finding food (and they do when it's not winter), so eating from a dish bores them. I scatter scratch and sunnies in their bedding (I use leaves, they love to dig in them) to keep them occupied. I've stopped giving them any corn in their scratch unless it's very cold. I think maybe the sugar in it makes them hyper.
The ringleader is in solitary, and I think she does have a brain disorder. I've never had such a pecky chicken!

 

[FAZ]

I also need help, I have 5 new Hampshire reds and 2leghorns all are hens and I have 1 new Hampshire red rooster. On our new Hampshire reds. We started noticing feathers on there backs were all matted down , and when I parted their feathers to look at there skin I noticed
Wide open wounds on their backs. It looks like the skin has been cut. We have only had these guys for about. 11 months.