I think I found a miracle cure for feather picking

[ShakeragSusan]

A friend of mine visited yesterday. She grew up on a dairy farm, but they had chickens, too, of course. She said her chickens would pick in the winter and stopped as soon as the grass started to grow. I sure hope this is the case. It does mesh with when ours started picking. I still haven't seen any picking. And the roos and guineas are still all unpicked.

Has anyone ever heard of this?

 

[azygous]

Our world is full of coincidences. Just because two things occur at the same time doesn't necessarily mean they are related.

It's more likely that your friend's chickens quit picking because there were more bugs for them to eat in the grass and just below soil level, although I won't rule out the grass providing additional nutrients missing in winter.

 

[ShakeragSusan]

I'm still hoping things improve when the grass greens up. So far nothing has helped. . .

 

[Crazie Eddie]

I've been adding green treats to my chickies diet once or twice a week since the problem began - everything from iceberg lettuce to dandelion greens to cabbage. While I've not kept careful records, I haven't noticed a reduction in the picking. I've also been feeding meal worms at least 4 days a week, alternating with scrambled eggs and the occasional treat of cat or dog food - again no change.

The problem did seem to start when the girls started laying.

The difference between my friend's flock - no feather pickers and related - and mine (they less than 1/4 of a mile due west) is that they are totally free-range, while mine are in a 7' by 30' pen, plus the coop space. And her's have access to a goat and dog/cat poop manure pile.

Our spring is a bit behind this year, but if the problem clears up by mid-summer, I will have to rethink my setup --- maybe move everyone to Texas for the winter...

 

[equius]

Bumpa-bits are here.

These are the real thing from Scotland. These seem to be the last resort for feather picking. The ones I have are the 30 mm size which seems to be the right size for chickens.

Bumpa-bits are widely used by game bird raisers. Game birds need to be able to fly so feather picking makes the birds worthless for their primary purpose. The way they work is, they attach to the beak holes and are usually installed with a tool made to install mechanical ring clips. The way they work is to prevent the bird from fully closing it's beak, so it can't grasp the feather to pull out. I can't imagine it wouldn't impact the birds ability to feed on small insects if they are free ranging. The manufacturer recommends the birds always have food available in a trough. I will see if I can make a video on the best way to install them.

While I don't know for sure, I believe feather picking is a behavior, like egg pecking that may be forgotten by their little chicken brains if they are prevented from continuing the behavior for some period of time. It's a tool similar to pin less peepers in that it's a mechanical device designed to control a vice.

I don't have any birds that feather pick so I won't have any practical experience on how they work. I bought them because the minimum is 500 and I didn't figure many individual chicken owners would want that many. My reason for making them available is, I hope my investing in the inventory and shipping them out will make people think I'm a good guy and out of gratitude will give Forco, the digestive supplement, a try. This may not be too coherent, but it's late at night.

The cost is $1.25 each plus shipping and handling which should run about $5.00 per order. I might establish a minimum later, but not now.

You can order by contacting me at [email protected]

In addition to stopping feather picking, I understand the birds will begin to cluck in a Scottish brogue.

Jim Rea

 

[ShakeragSusan]

That is something to look forward to!

 

[azygous]

I urge all chicken keepers with unresolved feather-picking issues to take advantage of Jim's generous offer to supply Bumpa-bits at such a remarkable cost. Unlike pinless peepers, Bumpa-bits are not easily obtainable in the US, and it's a shame since they offer a more reliable solution to feather-picking than the peepers.

Like the pinless peepers, they attach to the chicken's beak by prongs inserted into the beak hole, fitting between the upper and lower beak. Unlike peepers, though, the crafty chicken brain doesn't rewire itself to accommodate a "work-around", thus enabling the culprit to resume their destructive habit.

The bit does require the chicken to learn to eat and forage in a different way from before. The time this takes, I assume, varies from chicken to chicken. It took Flo about three hours to learn to pick up food. But technically, she was starving for the better part of a week until she fully learned to use her beak hampered with the bit. I helped her fill her crop by holding a cup of feed under her beak so she could eat it more easily as well as give her a free shot at the food without having to compete for it. This was just at first. I no longer have to do this for her as she's doing well on her own.

Things she CAN do include, eat her layer crumbles from a trough-type container, pick up meal worms and bugs from a soft surface such as sand and loose soil, and pick up bits of tortilla or bread.

Things she CANNOT do include eating well from a conventional chicken feeder with a compartmentalized tray, picking up bugs from a hard surface, pecking on a flock block, tearing off bits from a tortilla held whole in front of her, and being competitive over food tossed into the flock. But she can't grab a feather and rip it off it's owner.

By the way, even though there isn't any conclusive evidence Forco supplement helps with feather-picking, I still buy it and supply it to my flock because I believe they are much healthier for it.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Bumpa-bits are here.

These are the real thing from Scotland. These seem to be the last resort for feather picking. The ones I have are the 30 mm size which seems to be the right size for chickens.

Bumpa-bits are widely used by game bird raisers. Game birds need to be able to fly so feather picking makes the birds worthless for their primary purpose. The way they work is, they attach to the beak holes and are usually installed with a tool made to install mechanical ring clips. The way they work is to prevent the bird from fully closing it's beak, so it can't grasp the feather to pull out. I can't imagine it wouldn't impact the birds ability to feed on small insects if they are free ranging. The manufacturer recommends the birds always have food available in a trough. I will see if I can make a video on the best way to install them.

While I don't know for sure, I believe feather picking is a behavior, like egg pecking that may be forgotten by their little chicken brains if they are prevented from continuing the behavior for some period of time. It's a tool similar to pin less peepers in that it's a mechanical device designed to control a vice.

I don't have any birds that feather pick so I won't have any practical experience on how they work. I bought them because the minimum is 500 and I didn't figure many individual chicken owners would want that many. My reason for making them available is, I hope my investing in the inventory and shipping them out will make people think I'm a good guy and out of gratitude will give Forco, the digestive supplement, a try. This may not be too coherent, but it's late at night.

The cost is $1.25 each plus shipping and handling which should run about $5.00 per order. I might establish a minimum later, but not now.

You can order by contacting me at [email protected]

In addition to stopping feather picking, I understand the birds will begin to cluck in a Scottish brogue.

Jim Rea

Jim,

My computer that has my email stuff on it crashed a couple weeks ago and so far it has not been fixed and that information is out of my reach til my husband does something with it.

I need to order 20 of the bits. Is there a way I can do this without an email address or no?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Lacy

 

[azygous]

You can place your order with Jim at his phone: 303-663-7115.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Azygous,

How do you put these chicken bits on? I got a bunch today and you said something about c-pliers before but I don't get how they would work. The woman in England sent some to me. I was not the least bit comfortable with cancelling on her after I made a special plea for help and she ordered them right away. So, I got mine today. I'll probably order more through Jim but first I need to know how to apply them. Thanks for your help.