Has anyone used "Anti-pick"?

[dukecitychick]

I have a Buff Orpington getting beat up by (I think) a Blue Andalusian hen... she's missing some feathers from her tail and there are bloody feather stumps. :-( Not a huge bare area, but I'm cautious and I took the BO out of the coop last night so she can get some rest by herself. She seemed skinny to me but I checked her vent and pits and didn't see any evidence of mites or lice.

Anyways, I suspect the birds are bored and I'm going to start baking them treats or try to get a Flock Block or something, but in the meantime I was going to try something called Anti-Pick.

The guy at the feed store said it tastes bitter, goes on like honey, and *is red* so supposedly it conditions whoever's picking to not go after red stuff, i.e. blood.

Has anyone tried this? Does it sound legit?
Thanks!

 

[speckledhen]

I have only tried to use the Rooster Booster anti pick, which is not red, but charcoal colored. It didnt work at all. Has coal tar, marigolds and something else in it, but the girls just kept on literally eating my poor rooster's wattles and comb.

 

[dukecitychick]

The feed store that had Flock Blocks didn't have the Anti-Pick anyways, so I got some pine tar and a bag of black oil sunflower seeds. I put some scratch on top of the Flock Block in the run so that they'll realize it's a "food-like item" (Michael Pollan would be appalled), pine-tarred up my BO's behind, and put her back in.

She seems upset with the pine tar on her and is trying to preen it off, but when I saw the Blue Andalusian take a taste she didn't seem to like it very much. I'll keep an eye on them this weekend and see how they do - if the BA keeps at her, the BA goes. Though I guess I could try the Anti-pick or something like that first. I'll try to do a better job of keeping them occupied though.

 

[PurpleChicken]

I've used VetRX to prevent picking and it has worked great.

 

[speckledhen]

I have some tough hens, PC. I used VetRx, Ichthammol, and everything else to stop the picking of my rooster's comb and wattles (wounds inflicted by his brother originally). The only thing that finally worked was separating him with a few hens who never pick on him.