I think I found a miracle cure for feather picking

[kouros]

I know.... it would be so simple if we only had a test. If they could only talk!!
I had two out of the flock that were picking and eating the feathers. Picking is one thing and eating is another,so I wondered why the two are different. Why not just pick? I confined them both to our dog crates in the garage. They were thee for 2 weeks I thought I might break a bad habit..They seemed to be OK for the first couple of days but then it started again. Back into confinement they went!! More reading...I thought the protein thing sounded most logical thinking that they free range in the summer and get all kinds of meaty yummy things. As fall went into winter the lack of all that extra protein disappeared and they were only left with the protein in the organic feed pellets. They have been feather picking/eating free for about three weeks now. I will let you know if there is a change. Happy Spring!

 

[equius]

I wonder if soybean meal might help to give them enough protein. Soybean meal is 45% protein and is pretty inexpensive. The problem I have with most soybean meal is that it's solvent extracted and I am not convinced that all the solvent evaporates when it's boiled off. If you look you can find soybean meal that is not solvent extracted. The feed I am using has flame roasted crushed soybeans, I have never had feather picking problems, the feed may or may not have anything to do with that but they sure gobble it right down.

 

[zinia8]

@azygous
Do any of your birds have any problems with getting on the roost with the peepers on?
my peepers are ordered.

 

[azygous]

Curiously, no, they navigate the roosting perches just fine. I do, however, have one young hen who can't seem to find her way back out through the pop hole door flaps. She seems to have no trouble going in through them to go lay her egg, but for some reason, she can't figure out how to get back out. The same hen, when offered two raisins, will look back and forth between the two morsels, taking forever to decide which one to pick up. Needless to say, she misses both when another hen spots them and zips in and snatches them out from under her beak. I suspect this hen has a "developmentally challenged" brain.

All these are minor problems that, in time, their brains adjust their eye sight to compensate. Sometimes their brains adjust too well, and they begin to see just as well as they did without the peepers, and they resume feather picking.

 

[zinia8]

Thank you.
I really am hoping it it will give the poor rooster some relief.
Peepers are the last resort if this doesn't work I do believe it will be "off with their heads".

 

[Sharon Bee]

Most of my chickens have peepers on. They sleep on roosts fine. They are eating and drinking normally. Some feathers are trying to grow back in.

 

[Sharon Bee]

Here is one of mine. They are finally outside for the first time since winter. Hopefully they will pick feathers less. You can see her bare butt.

 

[Bosozoku]

bump

 

[azygous]

Yes, the chickens have very little problem adjusting to these anti-feather picking devices. However, they are not a cure, and some chickens have the flexibility of brain function to re-wire their brains to develop work-arounds to continue feather picking.

This week, I took the peepers off my Fearsome Four, the little Sussex thugs because they were picking feathers, not eating them, either, mind you, in spite of wearing pinless peepers. I then installed Bumpa-bits on all four. And guess what. They are continuing to pull feathers even though the Bumpa-bit doesn't permit the beak to close all the way.

Just count yourselves lucky if the peepers work for even a short while.

The fact that these little thugs are yanking out feathers just for the sheer enjoyment of it, not eating them, defies theories that this problem is caused my nutritional deficiencies, at least in my four characters.

Flo, by the way, has been a perfect angel wearing her peepers.

 

[Sharon Bee]

Why can't i attach a pic here?. It won't embed when I browse and click the pic. In fact it even wipes out my post altogether. Once in a long while it works as above.