I think I found a miracle cure for feather picking

[Sharon Bee]

Btw, my layer food is 17% protein. Is that good?

 

[azygous]

I've found that my hens prefer flock grower or chick grower over layer feed. Yes, I have given them a taste comparison test. They do have taste buds, and they will turn up their spoiled little beaks at layer feed when given a choice.

Most layer feed is around 17%. Purina flock raiser is 20%. Most people who are doing FF, are using the higher protein feeds. I also put in two or three handfuls of BOSS and scratch grain. It makes it all the more appealing and it improves the texture, too.

I have a separate feeder with oyster shell so they get all the calcium they need.

 

[Glasshen]

I have been following this thread for quite a while, hopefully. Last year my roo and one of my original hens, the one who has raised several chicks for me were plucked bare. They molted, and feathers looked great. Suddenly both of my less than year old BOs are naked in the back. And the roo again missing some...I had already been feeding FF, and I have been sprouting since Jan 1. They have a dust bath in the coop. Guess I will just not take their photos from the rear!

 

[azygous]

Have you tried pinless peepers?

 

[Glasshen]

Guess that is next, don't know who is the culprit, they all act cute, innocent and love able while I'm watching.

 

[Sharon Bee]

How do pinless peepers work? Mine are still scruffy and same here, I never see them doing it.

 

[azygous]

Pinless peepers block forward vision so that they can't see very well to focus their beaks on little feathers. They still allow vision above, on the ground, and from the sides. You need a special tool to put them on. Ot strong fingers. They have prongs that secure to the beak holes.

 

[Sharon Bee]

So you don't have to push the peepers through the nostril membrane? I'd hate to do that. I watched a UTube video that showed the pin going through the membrane and out the other nostril.

 

[azygous]

I've never seen those kind of peepers. That's why they call these plastic ones "pinless". The chicken takes a few minutes to become accustomed to the slight discomfort of having prongs resting inside their beak holes, but the greater adjustment comes from not being able to see as they have before. They seem to focus on the device in front of their eyes for several minutes after they're first installed. I usually sit and hold my hen until she begins to see other things than the plastic in front of her eyes. This also prevents them from trying to scratch them off with their feet.

Sometimes I put them on and then have meal worms handy so I can immediately retrain their vision. They will not be able to see the worm if you hold it in front of them. You need to hold it below their crop so they can see it. It gives them incentive to refocus.

Another trick I employ is to take around four peeper devices and scatter them on the ground when I return the hen to the run. This gives the others a focus so they'll leave the new peeper wearer alone. Normally, they'll attack the strange device and try to get it off the wearer. The strangeness lasts just a few minutes, they examine the plastic things on the ground and then lose interest very quickly.

You need to be prepared for very intelligent hens to become so well adjusted to their peepers that they develop a work-around and resume feather picking as if they weren't wearing the peepers at all. That happened with Flo-the-serial-feather-picker. I got some bumpa-bits, a device that prevents the beak from closing down all the way, and it took all day for her to learn to eat with it. But Flo is so smart, she eventually defeated even that awful device and resumed her habit. Scroll back through this thread and you'll see photos of the bumpa bit.

This is why I was so disappointed when fermented feed didn't cure her. There really is nothing else to try.

 

[equius]

If you think more protein is the answer, you might try soybean meal, it's about 45% protein. Most soybean meal is solvent extracted, I worry there may be some residual solvent in the meal. You should be able to find non solvent extracted soybean meal, or I have some ground roasted soybeans that are about 35% protein. When it is roasted the flame roasting process kills the myotoxins and any mold and turns the saturated fats to unsaturated fats.