freeranged chickens feather picking- UPDATE #29, cured!!!

[zzGypsy]

haven't seen the pinless peepers before, and luckily we've had no major pecking problems...
for your DH, they're getting the pain now, with the plucking. the peepers attach on the beak, which is hard like your nails, so my guess is there should be no more pain than when clipping your nails. and they won't miss the distraction of what they can't see.

a similar idea is used on Rams... if you've got rams that want to fight, a halter with a "shield" is put on their head basically creating blinders so they can see to the side but not forwards. they won't fight another ram they can't see... just some shoulder shoving but no head smashing.

sure, they'd rather not wear the halter... for about 5 minutes. then they stop noticing. and no more injured rams.

if you can't separate the birds, blinders are a good choice. these look like they should work just fine.

 

[egglicious]

Quote:
Thanks, Debbiedodo. Have you kept them on permanently or were you able to eventually remove them?

 

[farm-a-zootical]

so, they actually go into the nostril? Thanks

 

[egglicious]

Just want to give everyone an update, we had a horrible incident and two chickens died yesterday, but before all that I was making progress with the feather picking. After watching them a lot I realized that they were actually picking and eating their own feathers off! I REALLY up'd the protein and it has gotten much, much better. Time will tell but for now all is good in regards to feather picking. Thanks everyone for the advice.

 

[farm-a-zootical]

Hate to hear you lost two. If you don't mind my asking, was the death caused by pecking or something else?

 

[egglicious]

Not at all, farmazootical. My sweet little dog somehow dug under the fence and got to them. He basically scared them to death. They lived for a couple of days, but then died together during the night. When I went to check on them they were next to each, with their little eyes closed like they were sleeping. It was really, really sad. I did everything I could but they just didn't make it.

 

[egglicious]

You can read more about it here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=582358

 

[farm-a-zootical]

I'm so very sorry for the loss of your chickens. Good luck with your dog training. We put limestone slabs two feet around our main coop & run. (Didn't keep the little buggers from trying to kill each other, though.) Just when you think you have things figured out in the chicken galaxy........... Sending best wishes to you

 

[egglicious]

Hello all! Feather picking has stopped, looks like completely. I believe it was a deficiency of some kind, because they were getting mash and not eating the protein part of their food. I gave them more protein such as tuna, eggs, yogurt, mealworms, etc. I also give them avia 2000 which I think really, really helped. My chickens look really good. Wanted to pass this on!