I may have finally found a cure for feather picking

[RoyalChick]

A few words about CBD oil for the novices here. Extracting the oil from the leaves and flowers, requiring a few complex steps, produces a tar-like substance that is very highly concentrated. It's not easy to use in this form so we infuse the cannabis with a carrier oil. This in turn can produce much more convenient forms such as salves and ointments and lotions as well as tincture and oil capsules. I use both solid and liquid coconut oil as my carrier oil. But it's more convenient to let my chickens consume the decarbed leaves as eating leaves is more fun for chickens than trying to push the oil into them.

This way they self dose, and I'm betting this is more beneficial for them. But you certainly can find ways to dose them with the oil if you have no access to the leaves and flowers. But keep in mind that raw leaves and flowers have inactivated compounds until it's heated for the required length of time.

Thanks for sharing. I just checked and weirdly in NJ I am not allowed to grow the plant. I think I may get some CBD oil for a rather stressed cat to see if that works for her.
I should say she isn’t so much stressed as full of rage at the other cats.

 

[Cheekychook12]

Excuse me if you’ve already said this but how big is your coop and how many chickens do you have ? Also how much roosting space do you have ?
It does seem weird.
Here comes by general question, have you checked them all for mites, lice and all things creepy ?

Things at my place have been hectic at the moment, but when the feather picking first started they were in a 1.5x3 meter run, with a small house about a metre square, I offered them perches but they never use them
They are bantams by the way
When the feather picking started I guessed they didn’t have enough space so I got a new and larger pen
3x6 metres and nesting boxes, as well as letting them free range very frequently
It didn’t help
I’ve checked them for mites and stuff but it’s tricky because this breed has an insane amount of feathers, then I treated them for mites just in case
Now they are sharing there pen with my pullets and two cockerels temporarily until my fence is fixed

 

[Loving my girls]

I think that if it was feather pecking to this extent there would be some sign of the feathers being ripped out or even some blood.
Have you seen the post by cochin1088 on July 12 2017 he/she seemed to have the same or similar problems.
Sorry I don’t know how to send you a link directly to the post.

 

[Perris]

can I ask those who know what's what with hemp/cannabis what they make of this? It was written in the fifth century BC.

After the burial the Scythians cleanse themselves as I will show; they anoint and wash their heads; as for their bodies, they set up three poles leaning together to a point and cover these over with woollen rugs; then, in the place so enclosed to the best of their power, they make a pit in the centre beneath the poles and the rugs and throw red‑hot stones into it.

74 They have hemp growing in their country, very like flax, save that the hemp is by much the thicker and taller. This grows both of itself and also by their sowing, and of it the Thracians even make garments which are very like linen; nor could any, save he were a past master in hemp, know whether they be hempen or linen; whoever has never yet seen hemp will think the garment to be linen.

75 The Scythians then take the seed of this hemp and, creeping under the rugs, they throw it p275 on the red‑hot stones; and, being so thrown, it smoulders and sends forth so much steam that no Greek vapour-bath could surpass it. The Scythians howl in joy for the vapour-bath. This serves them instead of bathing, for scarce ever do they wash their bodies with water.

Apart from these ancient inhabitants of the lands north of the Black Sea evidently getting high on the stuff, does it have a cleansing property? is feather-pecking an extreme sort of cleaning, and could the chemicals in cannabis work that way?

edited to add, translation from https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/4c*.html

 

[Cheekychook12]

I think that if it was feather pecking to this extent there would be some sign of the feathers being ripped out or even some blood.
Have you seen the post by cochin1088 on July 12 2017 he/she seemed to have the same or similar problems.
Sorry I don’t know how to send you a link directly to the post.

I noticed the top of the order one today, she was methodically plucking out feathers while the picked hen just sat there completely still, I shooed her away and will be separating her soon
The way she did it was disturbingly clinical, like a doctor removing splinters..
Couldn’t find that post

 

[Shadrach]

@azygous
What strength is the CBD oil you're using and is it hemp or cannabis derived?
What dosage have you found works?

 

[Loving my girls]

I noticed the top of the order one today, she was methodically plucking out feathers while the picked hen just sat there completely still, I shooed her away and will be separating her soon
The way she did it was disturbingly clinical, like a doctor removing splinters..
Couldn’t find that post

Sounds like it’s become a habit which may initially have had a reason, however weird, but now is just a habit much like smoking.

 

[azygous]

@azygous
What strength is the CBD oil you're using and is it hemp or cannabis derived?
What dosage have you found works?

I'm not using the CBD oil. Unless it's in a carrier oil, it's not easy to use. I confess I don't know how strong CBD oil is that they derive from hemp, which is usually where CBD oil comes from that is sold legally. And I wouldn't know the dose which would depend on how diluted the oil is in its carrier oil.

Those of you using CBD oil will have to figure out the dose on your own. But you can be reasonably confident that you're not going to overdose. However, I would rather see you mix the oil dose in some other food that the chickens will nibble on over the day instead of giving it all at once.

I use the plant leaves for my chickens, a hand full each day for the seventeen hens. Each hen eats what she wants, and it should have a calming effect that the hen will seek out when she's feeling anxious. At least that my wishful thinking regarding dosing.

 

[azygous]

can I ask those who know what's what with hemp/cannabis what they make of this? It was written in the fifth century BC.

After the burial the Scythians cleanse themselves as I will show; they anoint and wash their heads; as for their bodies, they set up three poles leaning together to a point and cover these over with woollen rugs; then, in the place so enclosed to the best of their power, they make a pit in the centre beneath the poles and the rugs and throw red‑hot stones into it.

74 They have hemp growing in their country, very like flax, save that the hemp is by much the thicker and taller. This grows both of itself and also by their sowing, and of it the Thracians even make garments which are very like linen; nor could any, save he were a past master in hemp, know whether they be hempen or linen; whoever has never yet seen hemp will think the garment to be linen.

75 The Scythians then take the seed of this hemp and, creeping under the rugs, they throw it p275 on the red‑hot stones; and, being so thrown, it smoulders and sends forth so much steam that no Greek vapour-bath could surpass it. The Scythians howl in joy for the vapour-bath. This serves them instead of bathing, for scarce ever do they wash their bodies with water.

Apart from these ancient inhabitants of the lands north of the Black Sea evidently getting high on the stuff, does it have a cleansing property? is feather-pecking an extreme sort of cleaning, and could the chemicals in cannabis work that way?

edited to add, translation from https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/4c*.html

This is fascinating! Thank you for this!

We don't know how much THC was in the hemp plant of that ancient era, but we can assume those steam bath takers were experiencing a high of some degree. Other than that, tossing hemp seeds on heated stones would release the water in the seeds creating steam that opens pores and creates sweat that washes grime off the skin. To my knowledge hemp and cannabis don't have any organ cleansing properties beyond what any edible plant would have.

The other descriptions of the useful qualities of hemp are consistent with how hemp is used in our own era. Not many people are aware that Henry Ford fashioned his first Ford car body out of hemp. He demonstrated with a sledge hammer to an audience how strong the body was. We've always made the strongest rope out of hemp. One time I attempted to put some thick cannabis plant stems into a wood chipper, and the result was not chips but long strips of indestructible fiber.

One of the most stupid things our government ever did was to outlaw hemp. It's cheap and easy to grow, and you can make everything from plastics to rope to clothing from it, and we're only just learning the numerous medicinal uses for it. It is unarguably a gold mine for the economy if the federal government (ignorant politicians) would quit entertaining their uninformed notions that legalizing hemp will make drug addicts out of all of us.

 

[RennaeHanson]

I would be worried about the CBD going through to the egg, I don't want to eat eggs with CBD/THC in them and I certainly don't believe my customers would either.