I think I found a miracle cure for feather picking

[Sharon Bee]

@azygous
would you or have you let your feather picking chickens brood and hatch out chicks? My main feather picker is broody big time and I have entertained the thought of letting sit and hatch.

I have no idea who is doing the picking with my eleven. I think they ALL are doing it as they all are picked. Some worse than others though. I just realized....TODAY IS THEIR FIRST BIRTHDAY!! And I didn't bake them a cake. Bad mommy!! I will give them a belated birthday treat tomorrow. LOL

 

[azygous]

Pinless peepers can be purchased here: https://www.randallburkey.com/searchprods.asp It's where I got mine. Peepers are one of the best ways to curb feather picking, and I urge any of you who are still at wits end over the problem, to give them a try.

Bumpa-bits can be purchased from Jim Rea [email protected] It's the only place in the USA that sells them.

The 35mm bits I installed on the Fearsome Four seem to be doing the job. As I expected, they are all so darned ornery they had no trouble adjusting to the longer bits. I'm glad now that I had the choice. Jim Rea sells the 30mm length, which is a better fit for most standard chickens.

Both devices are installed with snap-ring pliers, which work the opposite of regular pliers.

Yes, I've allowed one of the Fearsome Four, my Speckled Sussex Linda to sit and brood eggs twice. She is currently broody for the eleventh time. She's a cereal broody hen. If I'd let her sit eggs every time she's been broody, I'd have around 75 extra chickens by now.

 

[DimondaleBergs]

Pinless peepers can be purchased here: https://www.randallburkey.com/searchprods.asp It's where I got mine. Peepers are one of the best ways to curb feather picking, and I urge any of you who are still at wits end over the problem, to give them a try.

Bumpa-bits can be purchased from Jim Rea [email protected] It's the only place in the USA that sells them.

The 35mm bits I installed on the Fearsome Four seem to be doing the job. As I expected, they are all so darned ornery they had no trouble adjusting to the longer bits. I'm glad now that I had the choice. Jim Rea sells the 30mm length, which is a better fit for most standard chickens.

Both devices are installed with snap-ring pliers, which work the opposite of regular pliers.

Yes, I've allowed one of the Fearsome Four, my Speckled Sussex Linda to sit and brood eggs twice. She is currently broody for the eleventh time. She's a cereal broody hen. If I'd let her sit eggs every time she's been broody, I'd have around 75 extra chickens by now.

Thanks for the info, Azygous.
How long do you leave the peepers/bits on? And I'm assuming they are still able to forage with the bits in place?

 

[azygous]

I usually leave the devices on for around three months. Usually it coincides with a change in seasons. So around the end of summer, I'll remove all the devices and see what we have accomplished.

Sometimes, the culprit, like Flo, reverts in a day or two. Then the device goes back on. Sometimes the effect lasts for several months, and then I begin noticing missing feathers again. Then I need to spend time observing to see who is reverting to bad behavior. But it's usually the same suspects. The chickens who have never picked feathers aren't likely to suddenly start. The ones who have, only seem to enjoy brief remissions.

So I keep the devices handy at all times.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Why don't they make layer feed with enough protein??? That's what I would like to know!!

Commercial layer rations are made for commercially kept layers. What is in these pellets is barely enough for the chicken to survive but still lay that all important egg.

You can get rations with higher protein in them, or you can supplement the lay rations with extra eggs you may have on hand either scrambled or hard boiled and chopped, either one with the shells intact. A ration that is not formulated specifically for laying hens will need oyster shell available at all times as even the layer ration isn't quite high enough in calcium to keep them laying good hard shells.

 

[Sharon Bee]

Why don't we all band together and push for better layer food. There are enough of us. It could be a brand that is more geared to all those who care about the health of their chickens.

 

[Sharon Bee]

My chickens have the peepers on and they are STILL picking out feathers. The one Brown one has no neck feathers or leg feathers. !!

 

[EmeraldSkye]

Scratch and Peck offers the standard 16% protein feed and also 18% and 20% options. Which would be the optimal amount of protein? I'm giving the 16% Scratch and Peck now... I think I'll try the 18% on the next bag.

 

[kouros]

Hi I cook about two eggs , scramble or 1/2 a chicken breast cut into 1/4 inch pieces and feed to 6 chickens. The girls are still doing great and no picking. My Murphy, the one getting picked on this winter still has no feathers on her back end. The other chickens ,even Honey, ignore the red skin. This just confirms the research that my chickens were bored and needed protein this past winter.. I learned a lot this winter watching them, reading and seeing how things changed when Spring came. best of luck!!

 

[azygous]

Big day! Flo got her peepers taken off! She's been a very good girl for months now, so I thought she deserved a chance to proved she's reformed, if only for a short period, as has been the case always in the past. But it's not really an occasion for celebration and a round of drinks for everyone.

There was another reason I removed the peepers. Flo has been getting thrashed daily by the four Sussex thugs. Yesterday, a couple of the oldest hens also joined the gang bang, stomping Flo into the ground. Literally. They haven't been content merely to chase and peck. They chase her until she gets so scared she goes into the submissive crouch, then two of them do a tandem stomp on her while a third and fourth yank feathers from her back. These little thugs are all sporting Bumpa bits. The long ones.

This morning, they started in on her first thing, and she ran into the coop. One of the Sussex followed her in and had her cowering in a corner. I rescued Flo and put her outside to free range with a dish of food.

Honestly, I don't know what else to do. I can't for the life of me understand why they all hate her so much. She's an emotional wreck from it, too, spending most of the time evading the thugs, rapidly clucking nervously. She rarely lays any more because she's such an emotional mess.

I'm beginning to think that the people who cull feather pickers out of the flock are on to something.