- Jul 23, 2011
- 40
- 6
- 92
I have chickens that won't leave each other alone and continue to pull out the feathers of each other on their butts. I live in a cold climate and 2 of the 3 have nearly naked rear-ends because of this habit, plus bloody spots where their feathers get pulled out.
I suspect they are bored and free-ranging would probably solve this problem, but my dog would kill them on the spot and I don't have a safe spot for them to do this.
I've been working on this problem for about 2 weeks and this is what I've done/assessed so far.
They have a very large coop and run and are not crowded.
Plenty of high protein food with added oyster shells.
Flock block in the run with additional scratch thrown out for them to look for.
Added heat lamp in the evening because they are naked.
I got rid of the bully of the group, but this habit has transferred down to the others.
I applied "Pick no More" to the bald spots. This didn't seem to have much effect.
I am going out of town in 3 days for Christmas and am at a loss as to what to do. I have a neighbor who is willing to watch them, but I don't want to leave chickens with her in this condition.
Does anyone have any ideas? I'm at a loss.
Has anyone tried to coat the feathers with the stuff used to stop thumb sucking?
I suspect they are bored and free-ranging would probably solve this problem, but my dog would kill them on the spot and I don't have a safe spot for them to do this.
I've been working on this problem for about 2 weeks and this is what I've done/assessed so far.
They have a very large coop and run and are not crowded.
Plenty of high protein food with added oyster shells.
Flock block in the run with additional scratch thrown out for them to look for.
Added heat lamp in the evening because they are naked.
I got rid of the bully of the group, but this habit has transferred down to the others.
I applied "Pick no More" to the bald spots. This didn't seem to have much effect.
I am going out of town in 3 days for Christmas and am at a loss as to what to do. I have a neighbor who is willing to watch them, but I don't want to leave chickens with her in this condition.
Does anyone have any ideas? I'm at a loss.
Has anyone tried to coat the feathers with the stuff used to stop thumb sucking?