How do you stop feather eating/ pecking?

[coopmama]

I usually nip it in the bud when they are chicks. You make a paste of powdered goldenseal and cayenne pepper and plaster it on the area that is getting pecked. It will give them something to think about and it always worked well.Stopped them cold. The goldenseal tastes like **** but helps heal and cayenne might not feel great on raw flesh but I've don't think I've ever seen a chicken flinch.

Unfortunately by the time I got them they had already developed it as a habit (I think). If the peepers don't work, I'm going to try this concoction. Seems like it would work well. Thanks a lot!

 

[PapaChaz]

I'm afraid that's the point we are getting to. We are getting a rooster on Sunday morning. I hope he can get her settled down. He's her last hope.

not to be the bearer of bad news, but I wouldn't bank on that too much. one of my black australorp hens is actually doing this TO my rooster. I've used the peck no more on him, but it only seems to help for a few days then I have to put more on. I'm to the point of thinking my only choice may be a pot of dumplings soon. I'm in the same camp with whomever it was that said, 'I don't keep a bully in my flock because it causes too much stress'

 

[alibabba]

what the heck, culling? Omgosh. Let them out. give em a tiny pen, something out in the grass... hawks can't fly into a small narrow space, maybe chicken tunnels....no more feather picking will you find. Unless it's become ingrained behavior. But should still subside with the new area to explore.

(Have had over 60, with never a feather picked.) Not that that's alot but hey it's my backyard.

 

[coopmama]

what the heck, culling?  Omgosh.  Let them out.  give em a tiny pen, something out in the grass... hawks can't fly into a small narrow space, maybe chicken tunnels....no more feather picking will you find.  Unless it's become ingrained behavior.  But should still subside with the new area to explore.  

(Have had  over 60, with never a feather picked.)  Not that that's alot but hey it's my backyard.

These chickens have at least five acres that they free range on every single day. They are only in the coop to lay eggs & to sleep. Even when it rains and snows, they are out, and have been for several months now.

 

[JanetMarie]

From observation of my own flock, cannibalism cannot be retrained, or remedied. Seems the ones that have that problem just like it. Once one hens starts others can learn quickly and are not quick to forget after the initial troublemaker is gone. I don't hesitate in removing a cannibalistic hen from the flock.

 

[JanetMarie]

not to be the bearer of bad news, but I wouldn't bank on that too much. one of my black australorp hens is actually doing this TO my rooster. I've used the peck no more on him, but it only seems to help for a few days then I have to put more on. I'm to the point of thinking my only choice may be a pot of dumplings soon. I'm in the same camp with whomever it was that said, 'I don't keep a bully in my flock because it causes too much stress'

I had one troublemaker pecking my rooster's feathers out also, while he was molting. He initially thought she was giving him attention, then after realizing what she was doing, he would peck her away, and wanted nothing to do with her. Now she is gone.

 

[Shadow920]

I rescued 3 chickens from a farmer who no longer wanted his animals. That was just before Easter, so mid April. I never had chickens prior to that. They came with their coop. It was pretty obvious that they were not used to people, and I was pretty sure they had never been out of the coop. I have no idea how old they are, but they were definitely not young. Also, were visibly not well cared for. After a couple of weeks, one died in the coop. Not sure how/why. We got chicks & eventually I started letting these 2 adults free range. They started to look healthier & while they still don't run to me like the "babies" do, they will take treats out of my hand. None of the 3 I adopted ever had feathers on their butts. I thought it was due to malnourishment or stress- like a prolonged molt. I added vitamins to their feed, give them treats on the weekends, supplemented their feed with feather fixer & game bird/ show bird feed, & they free range all day every day. About a month or so ago, the skinny one, Bertha, FINALLY grew butt & tail feathers! She looks beautiful. Percy, the fat one, has only just begun to grow feathers on her butt- but she picks at them sometimes. I figured they must be itchy. These chickens' coop has been cleaned & dusted for mites. I have never seen a bug on either of them. Yesterday morning I woke to find Percy's butt covered in fresh red blood. It was from a tail feather that had been ripped out. I saw Bertha peck at it several times before I could get Percy out of the coop, I washed it off & treated it with a tea tree oil spray and with a blue lotion (I think called peck no more?). I culled her overnight. She appeared to be fine & happy & free ranged alone all day. I let Bertha out with her briefly & they were fine. As soon as they went in the coop for the night, Bertha started pecking Percy's butt again. I am culling Percy again tonight. Now I'm wondering if Bertha has been pecking at Percy all of this time. If that is the case, will I ever be able to stop it? They both eat an excellent diet and have several acres to roam every day. I wouldn't imagine that it could be boredom at this point- only a habit. Like I said, I have no idea how old they are or how long this could've possibly been going on.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Any ideas? I don't want to keep Bertha in the coop by herself all winter, but she bullies all of my other chickens, and I definitely don't want her to introduce this behavior to them as well.



^this was probably in June. You can see neither has many butt feathers^



Percy is on the left in both pictures above.



Berthas feathers starting to come in.



Bertha has tail feathers. Percy still doesn't.



Bloody butt.



Purple butt.

i my self have two bully hens. one of which killed off two of my smallest hens. i just put them with my cochin rooster who currently has no hens but i have been unable to stop the pecking all together. but no one else has died.

 

[enola]

Hens that are chronic feather pickers in my coop get invited to dinner. They don't need silverware either.

 

[Shadow920]

I'm afraid that's the point we are getting to. We are getting a rooster on Sunday morning. I hope he can get her settled down. He's her last hope.

my bullies almost killed my dominant. but he's too tolerant of his hens. my cochin is a grumpy old man and he don't take nothing from no one. but he's a good boy he tells them how he feels without too much pain.

 

[critterkeeper25]

We have had the same exact problem. It started last spring. We had 1 hen that was missing the ends of a bunch of feathers on her back near her tail. That issue eventually turned into the feathers missing altogether. We tried Vicks, peck-no-more, blue kote. Nothing really worked. We suspected that it was our dominant hen, but couldn't catch her in the act. I was about to order pinless peepers for her, but while we were away for the weekend, the suspected pecker and another of our hens vanished. (MDH insisted on our friend letting the hens out for the day while we were away) After that hen went missing the picked on hen began growing her feathers back. It was an AHAAA moment. "So, it WAS the dominant hen!" "Well, that problem is solved." NOT...now another of our hens is missing the tips of her feathers on her back near her tail. And this evening I saw a bare patch on her back where they are actually being pecked out. I haven't seen anyone display aggresive behavior to another hen since the suspected bully went missing. So...now what? Back to square one. It must be happening while they are in the coop/pen before they are being let out.
I believe it has something to do with boredom this time. We found out that we had a fox problem. Two weeks after we came back from our weekend away and found our two hens missing, I was returning home when I saw one of our hens being killed in the front yard by a very large and healthy fox. My son shot it, but didn't kill it as we saw it run away. We have been very cautious about letting the hens out unsupervised, so they aren't getting out for as much time as they were used to. I am the one that is worried about them getting picked off by another fox when there isn't someone home to defend them. (I did locate TWO dens in the hedgerow on the farside of our property!) I think that the best buddy of our now missing bully, has learned the picking behavior and is trying it out on her buddy. Unless it could be the hen that was being pecked before trying it out on this other hen. I never did catch the behavior the first time. I was going to try the peepers on that hen and was hoping that the feather picking would stop so that I didn't have to try them on each and every hen until the picking stopped. I'm wondering how much a camera system would cost to try to catch someone doing the picking?