how to prevent feather picking

[allmychickens]

i see dso any polish with bald heads and im planning on getting some polish but i would like to know how to prevent that... can you?

 

[chicmom]

Hello, a few things that come to mind are, don't make your coop and run over crowded. Crowded chickens are mean chickens, and they will start to take it out on eachother if they don't have enough space, by pecking eachother, or pulling feathers.

Another thing is to make sure they're not bored. If you change up the flooring in the run, add some natural roosts like maybe a large branch from a tree, and change things up a bit, this will keep chickens busy scratching, which is what they like to do best. Some people hang a cabbage in their coop. I throw down a pile of fallen leaves into their coop, or throw a couple of flakes of straw in the run and let them scratch and spread it around.

Let them free range if you are able. They will be happy campers if they get to run around.

Remember that, if you have harsh winters, your chickens may be cooped up alot, so try not to get too many chickens for your space. One winter I had a few too many which resulted in some feather pulling. I sat and watched for a while, and noticed there was one hen who had all her feathers.....She turned out to the the guilty feather puller. I watched her go around to each chicken, eyeball their backs, just above the tail, and WHAM! She pulled out feathers on each one. Made me so angry. I got rid of her and the problem ended.

So in short, don't over crowd them, and make sure they're not bored, and you'll probably be fine.

 

[allmychickens]

i have plenty of room in my coop for 10 chickens the cabbage idea is good!