I think I found a miracle cure for feather picking

[Sharon Bee]

Well my brown ones look worse. Now there are blood spots on their bare backs.

Why don't people warn the newbies about this awful behavior? If I had known I would have had their beaks clipped. Is it too late? They're 9 mths old now.

 

[azygous]

Your frustration is coming through, Sharon. This is a very frustrating problem, but while there doesn't seem to be any long term cures, there are short term reprieves.

Do you know who is doing the damage? I suggest you try the pinless peepers on the culprits. These devices, more than anything else I've used, provide the most relief from this aggravating situation.

Another thing you really need to do is to get some saddle/aprons to protect the victims. You can make them easily if you can sew. Patterns are on the internet. If you don't sew, they aren't very expensive, some can be purchased for as little as $5 each.

Paint the sore bare backs with purple antibacterial medicine to help them heal and to discourage further attacks on red, bloody sores.

PM me. I'll help you with the pinless peepers.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Here's a debeaked chick.


And this is what they can grow up to look like.




But its your choice.

 

[azygous]

Pinless peepers, Sharon. PM me.

 

[Sharon Bee]

Yes it is very frustrating. My poor brown ones are getting picked on. I'll try pinless peepers before they get worse.

 

[kouros]

Hi all,
I too have looked to find them.
I have had chickens for about 8 months now.. I LOVE them !! I went away to bury my Mom last month and came back to feather pickers. One is very bad and the other is a copy cat. I have them in dog crates now but need HELP.The rest still roam fee all day. I don't want to get rid of them.....Do you have any more of the bits?? Please let me know !! HELP

 

[Lacy Blues]

Depending on where you live, I don't think that the bumpa-bits are a quality product. Where I live, the bits got very brittle in a fairly short amount of time. Its probably the sun but my birds don't stay out in the sun, its too hot. Most of the bits broke off of the birds beaks. The ones that manage to stay on caused the bird's beaks to grow funky. There is a lip around the end that the beak fits into and as the beak grows, it gets wedged against this lip and keeps growing. It causes the beak to become malformed.

Some kind of bit that goes between the upper and lower beak is a better situation I think but you would still need to keep the beak trimmed so that they couldn't come together and pull feathers. At least with that kind of bit, you could access the beak tips for trimming.

 

[azygous]

Having tried the bits, and seen how persistent the pickers are, nibbling feathers in spite of wearing the bits, I believe pinless peepers are far more effective.

I know the feeling well - searching for that elusive cure that will solve the problem once and for all, and you're desperate to get the miracle device when you think you've located it.

If you really want to try the bits, go back in the thread and find Jim's e-mail address. He will sell them to you for a very reasonable price. It would be among the pages where I posted photos of the bits and talked about how to put them on.

 

[azygous]

Today, I caught one of my newest hens nibbling feathers from the rooster! Little Millie has probably been indulging in this habit for awhile, since I've been finding the slender saddle feathers around, but never saw who might be doing it.

This hen is not quite eight months old. This makes five of the flock wearing pinless peepers now.

I sure wish I could figure out what makes them pick feathers, darn it all! They're getting free range time almost every day, high protein fermented feed, fresh veggies every day, they have more room to move around in their run than I do in my house! And this is how the little ingrates thank me!

 

[Glasshen]

I wish I had separate coop to move the victims to, they could grow their feathers in together. The pickers could eventually just prey on each other and not train the next generation. But I know DH would not want to take on another coop building project.