How do I stop...

[lnm03]

Chickens from defeathering other chickens? I only have two they are picking on. One is a rooster and the other we are 99% sure is is a girl. When they were in the brooder they were getting cramped now they are outside and their feathers were coming back but last night we noticed that they are being defeathered again and they have plenty of room.....Any suggestions?

 

[ChickenToes]

Sometimes they pick because they're bored. Try hanging a cabbage from the ceiling of the coop. They'll peck at that instead of at each other. Try using the search function, there were a few other threads recently that talked about how to deal with picking.

 

[Chicken Woman]

Could be a lack of protien. Feather are like 90 % protien so if they are deficient they will go for feathers. Feed canned cat food , cottage cheese,boiled or scrambled eggs,yogurt.

What is the protien percentage of your feed ?

Sometimes there may be one or two bullies. Watch and see if you can tell who is doing it. (video camera) then seperate them out in a cage for a week. When they come back to the flock they will no longer be top hen and may not get away with it anymore.

 

[hinkjc]

Make sure blood or skin is not visible. If it is, spray it with blue kote to cover it up. Hot Pik also helps..they don't like the taste when they take a poke at them. It is very effective for pheasants which tend to be very picky.

 

[wingnut1]

Quote:
I placed some small bird toys in the cage - they actually played with them for quite a while for their first 8 weeks or so... The toy had small beads, bits of leather, a small bell... the cochin loved the bell! Also - I tossed in small amounts of goodies -- shredded turnip greens, minced grapes, etc. to keep them busy.. I also have a small pen and I put them in that periodically to give them a change in scenery when they were too young to go outside. Not sure if ahy of these ideas will work - but I wanted to pass them on in case they help!!

The other suggestions seem on target as well - hide the bloody areas, make sure they have chick feed that is heavy in protein - supplement with scrambled eggs, etc....

 

[lnm03]

I am not at home to check the protein and my DH cant find it on the bag. I am feeding them Chick Starter/Grower from Rural King and occasionally, not too often (maybe I should do it more) I feed them hard boiled eggs ground up. I didnt know how much was too much. Last week I had extra cabbage that I didnt need to use for dinner so I gave it to them.

They do have some skin visable but not bleeding. Where do you get the stuff to spray on their skin I havent noticed anything like that at Rural king which is where I get my feed. Do I need to use it if they are not bleeding?

 

[lnm03]

OK, just checked the feed bag and it says min. 18% Crude protein is that what they are suppose to have?