Feather pulling

[chel77]

I currently have 5 girls that I have raised since chicks. This summer I noticed some feather pulling. They pluck their own as well as each others (all have missing feathers). I am out of ideas. Here is what I have tried.
1. Increased protein in feed and supplements I give (ie treats)
2. Increased area they have. More than doubled their space to roam. They can not free range due to neighbours dogs.
3. Given them more things to climb and "play" with.
4. Tried spraying their plucked areas with blue kote and used rooster booster no more pick.

Nothing seems to be working. We are coming into winter here in Ohio and I am concerned they may actually freeze their butts off. :/

Any advice would be much appreciated. I am new to raising chickens and have had the girls just a year.

Thanks.

 

[pam75]

You are not alone in this. I have the same problem. I have tried adjusting food, used rooster booster.... Checked for diseases... They have plenty of room... They also cannot free range.. Mine are missing the feathers near their butt. They started this around 7 months of age, I noticed they were plucking. I too raised mine from babies. I dunno what to do either. Please let me know if you hear or find something that might help. And if I hear or find something I will let you know..

 

[familycomp3]

I currently have 5 girls that I have raised since chicks. This summer I noticed some feather pulling. They pluck their own as well as each others (all have missing feathers). I am out of ideas. Here is what I have tried.
1. Increased protein in feed and supplements I give (ie treats)
2. Increased area they have. More than doubled their space to roam. They can not free range due to neighbours dogs.
3. Given them more things to climb and "play" with.
4. Tried spraying their plucked areas with blue kote and used rooster booster no more pick.
Nothing seems to be working. We are coming into winter here in Ohio and I am concerned they may actually freeze their butts off.

Any advice would be much appreciated. I am new to raising chickens and have had the girls just a year.
Thanks.

I have one girls missing lots of feathers VERY suddenly. Started gradual with a patch and then started to notice lots of loose feathers. Then BAM! One night she lost about 40% of her cover. She would shake and 3, 4 feathers would just fly out. BAD TIME TO MOLT! The weather is NOT getting any warmer...thats for sure! I was wondering if she will get too cold as well. Do they make chicken sweaters? LOL!! It is about 35-45 most nights but i suspect the next couple weeks it will start getting to freezing EVERY night. How to keep them warm I wonder??

 

[Pullet Surprise]

I too had a relentless feather picker. It completely stoppped when I started feeding my chickens FF (fermented feed) and letting them free-range. They do not get to free range every single minute of every day, still have some things to works out, but the feather picking has ended.

 

[CMV]

UGH! Feather picking is the worst! I had such a go-round with that a few years back. I nearly threw in the towel.

Long story short- All the goo and salves are pretty much useless for the most dedicated pickers. The most effective product on the market are pinless peepers. Try those out. If you are still having problems then you will need to look at some behavior modification techniques. If the behavior cannot be modified then you will likely need to look into culling the worst offenders. Feather picking is a nasty habit and very hard to break once it is ingrained. You need to stop it ASAP.

 

[chel77]

Thank you for the advice and recommendations. I just got the pinless peepers in the mail yesterday and I hope they help.

 

[hen101]

same here raised them miy self and now they want to pluck feathers if you guys hear anything tell me

 

[hen101]

i found this new stuff called ff fermented feed it works for me