I may have finally found a cure for feather picking

[Cheekychook12]

I’m having pecking issues with mine too.. free ranging them every day in a huge yard didn’t really help either so I might look into this
My hens look like turkins right now

 

[BDutch]

On a personal level I don’t agree with this, I would rather find the cause, which is normally overcrowding, and fix that.

I understand that if a pecking problem occurred, its hard to change this. Even if you add space and clutter. I suppose giving hemp products with low THC is not unhealthy at all.
I do like this idea to address a stress problem, if you make other changes too for the future. Giving birds non stop THC doesn’t sound right.

CBD oil for birds sounds like a money grab to me.
All my birds have a fairly high dose of hemp seeds in their regular diet and it doesn't affect their behavior.

Hemp seed for birds doesnt contain enough THC to have any effect. The hemp for bird seed and rope, is from the same family as the ones for canabis, but the amount of THC is negligible.

For pecking issues, someone in this forum tested tryptophan with great results.

Tryptophan is a sleeping drug and a medicine. It should only be used for max 3 weeks (addiction).

 

[Loving my girls]

I’m having pecking issues with mine too.. free ranging them every day in a huge yard didn’t really help either so I might look into this
My hens look like turkins right now

Not my experience the pecking is caused not by ‘run’ space but coop space.

 

[Altairsky]

Hemp seed for birds doesnt contain enough THC to have any effect. The hemp for bird seed and rope, is from the same family as the ones for canabis, but the amount of THC is negligible.

CBD oil does not contain THC otherwise it would be illegal.

If it's not legal to grow cannabis in your state, you may be able to legally obtain CBD oil from hemp. Here is more information including dosing instructions. https://hempwell.com/blogs/pets/cbd-for-birds-what-every-bird-parent-needs-to-know

CBD oil for birds sounds like a money grab to me.
All my birds have a fairly high dose of hemp seeds in their regular diet and it doesn't affect their behavior.

It's a money grab. Clearly the site sells the product so they must say it does miracles for birds... Save money and feed your birds hemp seeds. Leave the oil in the shelves.

 

[azygous]

First of all, the cause of feather picking is varied. Don't think for a minute that I haven't tried to mitigate things such as diet and space. At one point, I had a hen that was manic in her feather picking, and I treated her with extra protein for years with zero improvement in her behavior. Her brain was hard wired to mow the feathers off her mates.

Over the years, I've noticed that my feather pickers were high strung and compulsive in their behavior as compared to the other chickens. This is what compelled me to research ways to treat them. I made it clear when linking to my two previous threads on this subject that those attempts were a failure. This one may fail as well. But we'll find out faster if it works or not if a lot of us are doing this experiment.

Cannabis compounds can be mystifying to folks who weren't hippies in the 70s. The short of it is that all strains of cannabis, including hemp, contain both THC and CBD compounds along with a few others such as CBN. In its raw form, cannabis has very little effect. It must be heated in order to release those compounds and activate them. It's why so many people smoke it. It's a lot easier and less time consuming compared to heating it in an oven.

It requires longer heating to activate CBD compounds than it does THC. And if your oven is too hot, it can destroy these active compounds. By heating at just under 200F, the compounds will not burn, and ninety minutes will activate the CBD coumpounds. If you were doing this for the purpose of getting high, you would only heat the cannabis for 30 to 45 minutes.

Hemp leaves, seeds, and cannabis leaves and seeds are all benign substances until heated. I've been giving my chickens cannabis all along over the years, at once point to control worms, which is of dubious effect. And, chickens lack the receptors in their brains for THC. No amount will get them high.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

@azygous, will heating the leaves as you describe cause the kitchen to smell like someone has been smoking pot? It's not an odor I enjoy.

 

[SourRoses]

CBD oil is just a refined fat from hemp seeds

Sorry, this is not accurate.
Hemp seed oil is a different product than CBD oil. Seeds are not a good source of CBD, but they are nutritious.

CBD is sourced from the flowers and leaves.

"Cannabidiol (CBD) is a cannabinoid — a different class of natural molecules that get their name from being able to interact with our body's endocannabinoid system."
And CBD oil uses a carrier oil, because CBD molecules are fat-soluble.

 

[Altairsky]

Looks like CBD is considered as bad as cocaine in my bigot country

 

[azygous]

@azygous, will heating the leaves as you describe cause the kitchen to smell like someone has been smoking pot? It's not an odor I enjoy.

Unfortunately it does smell. I choose a day when I can have the windows open while the cannabis bakes as I don't enjoy the odor, either. Luckily, it goes away very soon after the stuff has cooled as no smoke particles have been released into the house to linger for hours as would happen if someone has been smoking it.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Hmmm. I have a toaster oven. Maybe this process could take place outside on a pleasant day.