Help! Hen pecking breast feathers...

[kemcconnell]

I have a hen that has been missing several breast feathers. I initially thought she was molting as the others were, too. However, it has been months and her breast area is still bare. Just this week I noticed that it seems to have gotten worse. Her skin in the bald area is scaly. She's acting normal and I have never seen any of the other chickens messing with her. What can I do to get her to stop? I don't want her to peck to the point of bleeding and then have a much worse problem... Any advice would be GREAT! Thanks!

 

[GitaBooks]

Birds pluck feathers for a variety of reasons. In chickens it is usually because of:

Mites, lice, or fleas
Bullying by other chickens
Not enough protein in the diet
Boredom, crowded conditions or stress
Over-heating

Other types of birds can also pluck feathers due to irritations, perhaps from allergies (I think I heard this somewhere) or because they are too dry.


I hope this helps. Best of luck!

 

[ChickNanny13]

Agree with Chicken Obsessed - I had a hen that would gobble up her feathers, all my chickens and coop is dusted regularly and they have the run of the yard during the day with lots to do. So I suspected low protein, researching read about feeding them some eggs. Concerned that would get her eating eggs, I'd scramble one & mix it with some veggies in the mornings once a day. It did help, I stopped & she continued with feather eating, went back to cooking breakfast for her & the rest, after about a couple of weeks she stopped. They were molting so that may have been the cause for "lack of protein"?

 

[kemcconnell]

Thanks! It's just strange that it's only one of my hens. I don't think she's physically being pulled but maybe she isn't getting to the feed and other protein as much as the others. When I try giving them treats she stands on the outside and isn't aggressive about getting the treats at all. I think I'm going to separate get for a little while to at least get some feather growth back.

 

[GitaBooks]

Okay, just make sure that she can see the others, as being out of sight of them may stress her more.