I think I found a miracle cure for feather picking

[kouros]

Hi,
It will be interesting to see how it goes. i know mine started picking around Feb. This summer the pickers started to pick on another. Not pulling out just breaking the feathers mid shaft. I scrambled some eggs and fed them a little extra protien for three days ,picking stopped, for now.......They have been fine to date. All are starting to molt for the first time and I have been also giving a small amount of protein once a week to help the process.

 

[sunflour]

Hi,
It will be interesting to see how it goes. i know mine started picking around Feb. This summer the pickers started to pick on another. Not pulling out just breaking the feathers mid shaft. I scrambled some eggs and fed them a little extra protien for three days ,picking stopped, for now.......They have been fine to date. All are starting to molt for the first time and I have been also giving a small amount of protein once a week to help the process.

I have only one picker, feeding scrambled eggs, mealy worms made no difference.

 

[kouros]

It seems after seeing all the posts that we have several categories...
1.Feather pickers that are habitual and should be culled or permanently kept apart from the rest of the flock.
2. Feather pickers that pick because of space allocation, too cramped/stressed.
3. Feather pickers that pick based on a need for extra protein.

I know my feather pickers are the heavy egg layers in the group. They lay 5 /6 days out of 7.
It will be interesting to see what the new season brings.....we should all write a co -authored book!!

 

[Gldnrose]

I don't think it's incorrect that some don't regrow until a molt.  I'm not doubting your habitual picker, but I have a hen who has been half bald since last summer (2013) and is just growing feathers in the last week.  I don't have pickers thank God, just want you to know it is possible.

Unfortunately I think I've spotted new ones coming in then they're gone

I had a similar issue with two of my birds. I also purchased the clips from someone in Australia. I didn't use them. I gave them extra protein in the form or cooked chicken or scramble eggs. I removed them from the population for 1 week fed them protein ,It took a week  but the behavior stopped.   Good luck

Did the protein route too. No difference glad it worked for you though! It's a serious pain in the butt to deal with.

In reference to feathers growing back, there are two categories. If the perverse picker plucked feathers cleanly out by the roots, they will grow back before molt. If the villain merely broke them off above the skin, they won't grow back until the victim molts.

Kouros, feather picking seems to be interrupted by changes in routine, but beware it may be fleeting, and the behavior may resume.

Just today, among the Fearless Four, the Sussex thugs who warrant their own pen, they're such bad@#$%^, Geobett has resumed her evil, feather picking. Actually, she began with me, pecking my hand whenever it got near her beak. Today she is liberating feathers. Peepers will be installed before the day is over, though the device has limited effect on her.

Flo is also resuming feather picking, although she does respond to my hollering at her to stop. At least temporarily. It's Joycie's "Gaack!" that alerts me, as Flo doesn't dare molest anyone but her.

I'd love for everyone who has joined this thread to watch to see if feather picking seems to be a seasonal occurrence in their flocks. Is it ramping up after having been dormant all summer or whatever the season is where you live?

Yeah, she's picked them clean for sure, lol. I'm so upset with her right now because I treated all the girls and she just moves over to untreated areas. Ugh.

For me it started for two reasons, I think. First, I used to have a rooster. He had a favorite hen and started damaging her back feathers. Long story short, I found him a new home. And we had a very long very cold winter. Towards the end of winter, having been only in their run and the one hen already missing feathers I think this is why it started.

While they free range none of this happens. It does still happen if they are confined in their run (which is pretty large) or in the coop (in the morning I believe).

What drives me really crazy is none of the girls being feather picked do anything. I swear they just stand there and let her do it.

Peepers are on the way. I hate to do it but I guess it has to be done.

Something I noticed last year when I culled a bird that was grabbing feathers... when I cleaned her out and cleaned out her gizzard, I noticed that some feathers had made holes in the gizzard lining.  That was quite amazing as that's a pretty tough membrane!  At least I think the feathers made the holes, there were feathers in the holes but they could have just found their way there with the gizzards grinding and moving everything around. 

I'm pretty sure that holes in the gizzards could really cause some internal problems.

I believe it! I probably won't ever open the picker up when she passes but I'd bet money that there'd be feathers in there! I'm kind of afraid that all her plucking and eating of the feathers is ultimately going to be her demise

Here's a photo of what they used to look like.....

And here they are now.....I know horrible they all have bare butts like the one in the photo. Notice miss fancy pants....otherwise known as The Picker!

This is Cindy. She's the favorite to pick off of apparently. She was also the "favorite" of the rooster.

 

[azygous]

Cindy is certainly ravaged, all right. What a shame, and she has such a pretty little face.

It does seem to be that once pink skin is revealed, it's inviting to even non-pickers. It's probably because it resembles "meat". And indeed, once pin feathers appear, they can become a real delicacy, full of juicy red blood. That's why I Blu-kote the first sign of pink skin. And I keep it painted until the pin feathers have fully emerged.

Molting can be a problem in that it exposes lots of skin on some birds, and if they're slow regrowing feathers, they're targets to pickers. My flock are almost all in full molt now, but thankfully, so far I'm seeing no bare skin.

I was just thinking today, as I was picking up zillions of feathers in the coop and run, I haven't seen a single hen eating any of this bounty. At present, I only seem to have two active feather pickers.

Kouros, we're all co-authoring this thread. That's what makes it so great!

 

[Sylviaanne]

Here is the dosages for small animals.

Up to 20 lb. ½ teaspoon
20-40 lb. 1 teaspoon
40-80 lb. 1-2 teaspoons
80-100 lb. 2-4 teaspoons

Jim Rea

Is this like, per day, per week, per month?

 

[azygous]

It's per day.

 

[Gldnrose]

Cindy is certainly ravaged, all right. What a shame, and she has such a pretty little face.

It does seem to be that once pink skin is revealed, it's inviting to even non-pickers. It's probably because it resembles "meat". And indeed, once pin feathers appear, they can become a real delicacy, full of juicy red blood. That's why I Blu-kote the first sign of pink skin. And I keep it painted until the pin feathers have fully emerged.

Molting can be a problem in that it exposes lots of skin on some birds, and if they're slow regrowing feathers, they're targets to pickers. My flock are almost all in full molt now, but thankfully, so far I'm seeing no bare skin.

I was just thinking today, as I was picking up zillions of feathers in the coop and run, I haven't seen a single hen eating any of this bounty. At present, I only seem to have two active feather pickers.

Kouros, we're all co-authoring this thread. That's what makes it so great!

Admittedly I had stopped the blue kote because the picker just keeps moving to the non-sprayed areas. I resprayed everyone right after I took those photos and she has done the same thing, moving onto non-sprayed feathers. I can't spray an entire chicken with blue kote, can I? This is why I finally just gave in and ordered the peepers. They should be here soon. I really do hope they work.
When do the chickens do their fall molt? I keep thinking mine will start seeing as its starting to get cold. I would think the wouldn't start much later than now, or they will be in the middle of it during bitter cold times.

 

[Lacy Blues]

It seems with my birds that they wait to molt until it is quite cold! I think they're crazy. This year though, they're molting already, which scares me into thinking its going to be a bitterly cold winter. Yikes!

 

[azygous]

Actually, cold weather is one of the factors that trigger molt. Shortening days is another one. But molt can happen any time for a lot of reasons. It's practice for people wishing to show chickens at the state fair to starve them a few months prior to trigger molt so that the birds have brand new, undamaged plumage for the shows.

After mine finish molt, I hurry up and enjoy their unblemished beauty before they all start ravaging one another.