Golden Laced Wyandottes Plucking feathers out

[Chickenladyamie]

I am new to this I have 10 Golden laced wyandottes who I recently had to seperate from my Mix of reds and leghorns, they were attacking the wyandottes and killed one. I noticed they are plucking feathers all the time and most are missing all tail feathers, I have sprayed with Blu cote to keep them from picking but it dont last long and they are back at it. They have alot of undercoat feathers if that is what they are called. It is a pain keeping them seperated and I am waiting for them to be big enough to Butcher which is sad because originally they were going to be my pets. also they were all raised together so why would the leghorns/reds turn on the wyandottes like that? since we have tried to put them back together but they go right after them. My chickens are 6 months and not laying yet, I feed them laying mash with mix of crack corn and tons of fresh produce. My run is 24x14.

 

[TheCrazyClucker]

Leghorns and especially Rhode Island Reds tend to be bullies in a big flock. Also I've saw my Columbian Wyandotte plucks her feathers out a lot. And excuse my stupidity, but I don't understand what chickens are plucking the Wyandottes' feathers? The Wyandottes or Rhode Island Reds & Leghorns??

 

[Chickenladyamie]

They wyandottes are now plucking eachothers feathers and eating them? I was told they need Melathyamine in their diet so I bought it at the elevator but they keep on doing it. Starting to think they are a problem bird, it is always something with them.

 

[Percheron chick]

Feathers are high in protein so that's always the place to look first. The layer is appropriate at this stage but feeding "cracked corn and tons of fresh produce" dramatically pulls down the overall protein content of the diet making them deficient. I'd toss out some cat kibble as scratch, back off on the corn and veggies and even offer 1/2 layer and 1/2 all flock (20-24% protein) and see if that gets them to quit.

6 months is past the ideal time to butcher.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I'm sorry you're having problems. You might have one or more things going on in your flock.

Most layer feed has barely enough protein for the chickens. That helps keep the cost down. I wouldn't mix it with corn, which doesn't have enough protein and is deficient in some of the amino acids that make up a balanced, usable protein for chickens. Methionine is one of the amino acids that's low in protein and one of the ones that is needed to build feathers. How much corn are you adding to your layer feed?

You might want to try feeding the layer straight and not mixing it with the corn. What percentage is the protein in your layer feed? You could also try something like Flock Raiser, that's higher in protein. Or try giving them a little added protein from some other food.

The produce has many good things in it for chickens, to help them to be healthier. I don't know how much you are giving them or what types of things. You can give so much produce that they aren't getting enough protein, though. That's another possibility, too.

If you mix more aggressive chickens with less aggressive chickens, you always run an increased risk of pecking issues. If the diet isn't quite right, the space is a little tight, they're being bitten by parasites, they don't get out of the coop first thing in the morning or any other thing happens that makes them more agitated, they can turn on each other. It's just the way they can be, especially with more aggressive breeds.

I hope you can figure out what the problem is.