Hello from Rochester Washington

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lward220

lward220

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Hi, I am Linda and I am new to this forum..My hubby and I acquired 4 Silver Lace Wyndotte hens 6 weeks ago. There are 2 dominate and 2 submissive hens. The major domo (I call her Princess Lea) has been plucking feathers from the lesser 2 and eating the feathers. Is this normal behavior for chickens? We have only had one egg laid (yesterday) in the 6 weeks. All 4 are molting and appear to be healthy...I would appreciate any suggestions on how to overcome the feather plucking and eating.. We really like our chickens and dont see any reason to get more IF we can gather more eggs sooner than later. Thanks for your attention to my question..Linda
 
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From North Texas
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So glad you joined us
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from the Finger Lakes of New York! Very happy to have you aboard! Sounds like they are working out the pecking order. Normal, as it is.

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So glad you joined us! You'll love it here.
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If your girls are molting they stop laying eggs. If they are eating the feathers I *think* that is a sign that they need more protein. (Molting chickens need more protein thatn when they aren't molting, so that their feathers grow better and they stay healthy during that time.) You could try giving them a protein supplement if that's the case. If they are picking the feathers from the others, they may be bored. Are they free ranged or in a run? You might try giving them interesting stuff to do -- like toss some grains or veggie scraps out on the ground for them to occupy themselves. Good luck!
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They might be just establishing the pecking order. Or maybe what Lothiriel said.
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welcome to BYC from Rochester.....NH!
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your girls are going through molting and like someone said, they will need extra protein while this happens. giving them black oil sunflower seeds (BOSS) will help them get through it. if you can also up their feed to something with higher protein that is good. game bird feed is usually the highest you can get without spending a fortune. even if you do it for only a few weeks till most of the molt is out of the way. also, be careful handling them, their new feathers (pin feathers) will be hurting them since they will be filled with blood while they are coming back in and not opened up yet. this is also a good time while they are not laying eggs to do any de-worming.

i would suggest taking the hen that is acting dominant out of the pen for a day so she looses her place in the order and has to re-establish it. find some stuff called blue kote to treat the balding beauty's spot so it can heal. or see if you can find some Pik-stop that is used to help keep the others from picking at her. it is supposed to taste nasty to them if they try to pick at or around a bald spot.

good luck!
 

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