Feather Plucking in my 6 week old chicks

[SaraChristine]

We just put our chicks outside yesterday in the big coop. They have a heat lamp set up, and a large area for their run that they have been enjoying. We moved them out yesterday due to us noticing that one of our orpington's was getting a bare back. We never saw any blood, or feathers laying around so I started to worry that they were being eaten. I wanted to give them more distractions so outside they went.

This is the chick we noticed first. (This is Pterodactyl... lol all of our chickens have weird names... I know)


And then last night when we transferred everyone over to the big coop, we noticed it had started on another orpington (her name is Falcon). She was bleeding slightly, but I've gone out several times today to check on her, and she's been fine until about 30 minutes ago. Her wound was worse.

I did some reading on here yesterday, and I dusted them for mites yesterday. I did catch one of the buff orpingtons eating a feather that had fallen off... I'm still feeding them the chick feed, should I start switching over to adult food? They occasionally get a treat of crickets, but I give them a good helping of yoghurt weekly and cooked eggs. After reading this could be do to lack of protein, I gave them eggs today as well (it's normally just once a week, but this morning I gave them a second helping for the week.)

I'm just concerned because I haven't ever had this problem before! These are only our second batch of babies, but with our first, we never had this issue. And with the adults that we've acquired we haven't either. I ordered some pick-no-more (our local country store didn't have any on hand) and it should be here within a few days.

Is there any ointment I can put on her for now to help? Aloe, iodine, antibacterial cream, anything? (I haven't put anything on it yet because I don't want to make it worse).
Also, I did order some little chicken aprons for the two affected girls, but I'm impatient and might check out the patterns on here as well.

Any advice would be much appreciated!!
Thank you kindly,
Sara

 

[Judy]

I would put one of the gentian violet products (BluKote, etc.) on, in case it would discourage them from pecking. They need space and a place to scratch; you did well by moving them outside. You need to remove the heat.

 

[Baby Chick]

I would start mixing in layer feed slowly soon. We have this stuff you put in the water for extra calcium and other vitamins! I will have a look at what it in is a few days and tell you!

 

[cafarmgirl]

Their diet sounds fine, they are too young for layer feed. If I recall correctly the starter/grower actually has more protein then the layer anyway. The difference is higher levels of calcium and I would NOT recommend extra calcium for 6 week old chicks, you can actually do them damage. Watch that one with the small wound closely because they can very quickly turn a small wound into a huge one. I would put some BluKote on like Flockwatcher suggested. Spend some time watching them and see if there is one who is instigating this or if it's several. Give them all the room you can with places to get away from the instigator. Cover the wounds and watch them carefully. Sometimes if a flock gets started pecking it can be very hard to stop. If you find you have one who is doing it, pull that bird out for a few days or so and see if things settle down then try putting her back in.

 

[Judy]

I agree with cafarmgirl. It may be that you've essentially solved the problem by putting them outside.

Around here, layer usually has less protein than either starter or grower, but every brand is a little different. Another thought is, they may be helped with a source of animal protein.

You might be interested in these sources, on feather picking, if the problem doesn't resolve with the move and extra space and exercise.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/517547/peepers-removed-and-no-feather-picking-d/0_20#post_6586027

http://www.multiscope.com/hotspot/featherpicking.htm

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/697052/i-think-i-found-a-miracle-cure-for-feather-picking/240_20

 

[SaraChristine]

Thank you everyone for your advice and concern! We applied Pick-No-More and kept them on the chic feed, I also added some extra protein into their diet. (scrambled eggs and crickets when we had extra). That seemed to help for about 2 weeks, and then I noticed one day about a week and a half ago it was happening again. The same two birds were bare and raw on their backs. We applied more lotion and while doing so witness one chicken in particular that was going after the other ones latching onto feathers. We observed for awhile to make sure it was just the one bird. I then separated that one from the group, I wanted to see if any of the others were picking up on the behavior. I had that one separated (but in the coop) for the night and there were no more new sore spots, or lost feathers.

That little gal has seemed to have a turn around since her time in isolation, because there have been no more issues since then! Every few days we do go out and re-apply the lotion to make sure they get to grow back those feathers without being torn out again, but there have been no more new incidences. We also have been letting them free range with the big chickens while we are home and they have been doing wonderful. (The big chickens are doing very well around the young ones too! I was quite impressed! We are still going to wait a bit before moving in the big chickens, but so far things have been going pretty smoothly.