Green Mountain Organic Layer feed question

[elizamamma]

Hello chicken lovers,

I've been feeding my flock of four hens Green Mountain layer pellets as the majority of their diet, supplemented with the occasional handful of corn or some mealworms. They also spend a good portion of their day roaming about 1500 square feet of garden/compost. My question is could they be getting insufficient protein? They've been having some feather plucking issues, with two of the chickens having nearly bare bottoms, and I never find the feathers so I think they're eating them.
We've got one of the chicken in a recovery coop to try to regrow her feathers, although they still free range together.

Thanks for your advice!
Liz

 

[EggSighted4Life]

insufficient protein is blamed on feather picking WAY more than the reality of that being why. More often it is a behavioral issue.

Feathers actually only contain about 2% digestible protein in the form of keratin.

But if that is your concern... stop feeding the corn. What breeds are you raising?

Can you post pics? Rats will pluck feathers. Also mites or lice can be an issue. Bare BOTTOMS doesn't fit for feather plucking IMHO.

 

[GreenMountainEric]

Hi There, Liz.

I'll see if I can help you out. I just have a couple quick questions to start, and EggSighted4Life covered some of the more common possibilities already.....

1- Which breed are your hens? Any ISA Browns by chance?
2- Have you spent some time observing them, to see if it might be just one hen that is pecking at the others? Most commonly, this is a behavior issue with just one or two birds. not all of them.
3- Do you have a guess on the amount of corn you are feeding? Rough estimate on percentage of their diet?
4- Do all of the hens have properly trimmed beaks?
5- Are you feeding our regular Organic Layer Pellets? Or the Organic Soy-free Layer Pellets?

-Eric

 

[elizamamma]

Thanks so much for your replies! I also suspect it is behavioral, as only two of the four are missing feathers. The smallest hen, our Speckled Sussex, is the baldest, and I definitely see her getting chased by the two largest, which are a Plymouth Barred Rock and an Easter Egger. Our other large hen is a black Austrolorp, and she's the one with the bare bottom. I will try to post a photo. I have seen the Speckled Sussex pluck feathers from her rear when they are wandering in the garden but I don't know if that's the whole story.
As far as percentages of corn, it's really just a tossed handful to get the girls to return to the coop at night. We are feeding the regular layer pellets.
We haven't trimmed their beaks but they don't look particularly long.
I really hope rats aren't the culprit because ew. I know there are rats around occasionally, I think the coop and run are rat proof now. Would there be other evidence? I've never noted any particular drop in the amount of food in the coop and run, no droppings that I've noticed.
I've also considered lice or mites, but wouldn't all of the girls being showing signs?
Thanks again for the advice!

 

[GreenMountainEric]

Ya, Throwing a little corn out like that will not hurt anything. Just wanted to confirm that it wasn't a large portion of their diet.

If they have never had their beaks trimmed, it does offer them the ability to pluck feathers more easily (if they happen to be aggressive). This doesn't necessarily mean that they will. It just means that, if they want to (due to other reasons), they have more ability to do so. Either way, you wouldn't want to trim them at this point.

I would observe their behavior when you can, and see if one of them is a lot more aggressive than the others. If so, separate her from the rest, and see if the situation improves.