I think I found a miracle cure for feather picking

[Cluckies]

Do you have any live meal worms? When mine wouldn't eat much else, she still couldn't resist a high protein live meal worm... poor Alice.

 

[azygous]

Oh yes! I raise my own meal worms and they all get as many as I can give them without running out of breeding stock! They've all been hitting them pretty hard lately.

 

[johanssonmel]

Mealworms. They're like chicken crack.

 

[swany]

Thanks for the Dolomite lime idea, I use that in the garden and it's available. I have tried protein cat food, but it doesn't seem to be working this time. Mixed breed

 

[swany]

I'll try the dolomite lime because it's available and will get meal worms also. Thanks New Egg

 

[Gldnrose]

Wow, I didn't realize how long its been since I was on. Very busy holiday seasons at work and home. I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays.
I've got a lot of catching up here on BYC!

My girl still has her peepers on and all is going well. Two girls molted and finally have butt feathers again! I think another one of my girls is starting to molt. I told her she picked a fine time to start. It has been bitter cold here, brrrrrr. So that leaves just the picker that hasn't molted yet.

azygous I know its been awhile but I just wanted to say how sorry I am that you lost Joycie. I hope Flo is doing ok too.

May all the picking stop and our girls will live in peace

Happy New Year

 

[azygous]

I'd like to remind the followers of this thread that feather picking often wanes or completely abates during molt. You'd think it would be just the opposite. But I've been battling this scourge for five years, and that seems to be the pattern.

Picking then resumes in early spring, as a rule. So be alert for it if it's managed to drop off the radar in your flock.

Flo seems to have adjusted to losing Joycie better than me. But her bursitis has been crippling her so badly on sub-freezing days, she can't even manage to stand up. She doesn't eat enough because she can't get to the food and water, so I bring her inside the garage where it's at least above freezing, and she does better. But she refuses to eat unless I feed her or take her back out to the run with the others. I was thinking of euthanizing her the other day, but she's rebounded since.

Flo's feather picking days are over because she no longer truly is with the flock, and she's so crippled, she can no longer chase after feathers. How the mighty have fallen.

 

[Lacy Blues]

It's always a sad state of affairs to watch the decline of once prominent members of the flock!

I have a male (off topic as no feather eating involved) who was top of his little group. Inside of one week, this was his reality: top of the flock, challenged and beaten by an underling, moved to a new coop with more room, regained top position, severe cold swept in and he got pretty bad frostbite on his wattles from my watering situation (which has since been changed) and finally to the bottom of the pecking order, having been beaten up and driven from the coop. I found him standing outside in the freezing cold wind. Poor boy!

So now he's his own flock member and I haven't yet decided if he will be culled or not. His wattles still seem to be in pretty sad shape and I'm trying to see him through this. I need to compare him to his full brother so I can decide whether or not to do the deed. He's such a pretty boy, but so is his brother, who has not suffered any frostbite at all. Now before anybody jumps off the deep end... no, I wouldn't cull him for getting frostbite. Two other boys got it too and I've given them all the same care. The other boys are both almost back to normal. This guy though... I don't know if he has gotten an infection in the wattles or not. One of them is quite round and hard and blackened. The other is not quite as big but it is blackened too and also hard... so... he needs to recover... or else.

 

[azygous]

What a sad tale, Lacy! Have you and I just brought to light the possibility for others to see that creating a flock of one is an option? It sounds like your boy has an infection in his frostbitten wattles. If your decision is to keep him around, perhaps antibiotics could help him heal.

Flo is her won flock and she appears to be fine with that. Her lameness is what caused the others to turn on her and bully her so badly, but I just didn't realize it at the time. Now she feels still part of the flock, but she's happy not having to be subjected to their bullying. She's become very relaxed inside her secure enclosure. There's one EE who tries her best to goad Flo into fighting through the fence, but Flo just stares at her, unruffled.

At night, Flo waits for me to come get her and carry her into her pet crate in the garage. She's content to sleep there and not have to compete at roosting time. So she's been completely removed from the stressful aspects of being in the flock with all the benefits. I tried making a house chicken out of her a week ago, but she became heat-stressed. She's happier out with the flock as long as she's protected from them. I'm waiting with high expectations to see if her reduced stress level will allow her to lay eggs this year. I installed a dog crate in her enclosure with a nest in it in case she should feel the urge. I miss her olive eggs.

 

[sunflour]

It's always a sad state of affairs to watch the decline of once prominent members of the flock!

I have a male (off topic as no feather eating involved) who was top of his little group. Inside of one week, this was his reality: top of the flock, challenged and beaten by an underling, moved to a new coop with more room, regained top position, severe cold swept in and he got pretty bad frostbite on his wattles from my watering situation (which has since been changed) and finally to the bottom of the pecking order, having been beaten up and driven from the coop. I found him standing outside in the freezing cold wind. Poor boy!

So now he's his own flock member and I haven't yet decided if he will be culled or not. His wattles still seem to be in pretty sad shape and I'm trying to see him through this. I need to compare him to his full brother so I can decide whether or not to do the deed. He's such a pretty boy, but so is his brother, who has not suffered any frostbite at all. Now before anybody jumps off the deep end... no, I wouldn't cull him for getting frostbite. Two other boys got it too and I've given them all the same care. The other boys are both almost back to normal. This guy though... I don't know if he has gotten an infection in the wattles or not. One of them is quite round and hard and blackened. The other is not quite as big but it is blackened too and also hard... so... he needs to recover... or else.

good luck to your roo, hope he recovers and can one day get a better place in the flock