I think I found a miracle cure for feather picking

[MizPriz]

There are bumpa-bits (which I don't like) and pinless peepers, and chick bits (I believe they are called). I have the chick bits. There are plastic ones and metal ones as well. If you get the metal ones you have to get pliers to attach them. Also, you need to file the ends so they are rounded and won't cut the nostril. They cut them off square so there isn't a point but the edges of that square cut are too sharp in my opinion, so I file them.

Where can i get chick bits? I have a 3 week old pullet that has feather picked my other pullets. Have had her in isolation for a week... put her back in and she immediately started picking feathers again Need some guidance, please

 

[MizPriz]

If you're fermenting your feed, it has everything Forco has, so you really don't need it.

Feather picking has so many different causes, all you can do it keep trying things until you manage to get your problem under control.

Recently, I had a baby chick who was feather picking like a tiny fiend. She was all of two or three weeks old at the time. Every time I saw her do it, I would give her a "peck" with my finger on her back. It just took two days of this discipline whenever I observed the behavior to stop it all together.

With behavior associated picking, often you can get the culprit to stop by doing something to interrupt it such as hollering or giving them a poke. I believe the earlier you catch this behavior and the younger the picker is, the better chance you have of curtailing it.

@azygous was she picking her own feathers, or the other chick's feathers? Mine is picking at the other ones, so I don't know if this would work or not? TIA

 

[Carolei]

Where can i get chick bits? I have a 3 week old pullet that has feather picked my other pullets. Have had her in isolation for a week... put her back in and she immediately started picking feathers again Need some guidance, please

Here's a thread on pinless peepers. You can buy them from many feed stores or online from McMurray and other places. You put them on the girls who are doing the picking. They can't see right in front of them and it usually stops the feather picking.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/480929/pinless-peepers-work

 

[azygous]

You can't put bumpa bits or pinless peepers on baby chicks. Those are strictly for adult chickens with picking issues that can't be resolved any other way.

What you can do with a baby chick feather picker is training. I've had good success with aversion training where I watch the chick activity for about fifteen minutes at a stretch, and as the chick picker even so much as looks like they're going to peck a feather, I poke the chick on the back. Do this each time it goes for a feather.

The chick I most recently successfully used this method on is now a young cockerel six months old, and he hasn't abused a feather on any hen other than the neck grab during mating. Try it. It works.

 

[azygous]

I spoke of the feather picking chick as a "she" in a previous post. That chick turned out to be a cockerel, much to my disappointment. But that chick was, indeed, picking the down off the other chicks. It was very compulsive about it, plucking out down whenever he got near another chick.

The first poke I gave him knocked him off his perch. I certainly didn't mean to be so intense, but I was horrified to have a new feather picker in such a young chick. After that, I was more gentle with my pokes, and it was still very effective. The bad behavior stopped after no more than three days of this training.

 

[MizPriz]

I spoke of the feather picking chick as a "she" in a previous post. That chick turned out to be a cockerel, much to my disappointment. But that chick was, indeed, picking the down off the other chicks. It was very compulsive about it, plucking out down whenever he got near another chick.

The first poke I gave him knocked him off his perch. I certainly didn't mean to be so intense, but I was horrified to have a new feather picker in such a young chick. After that, I was more gentle with my pokes, and it was still very effective. The bad behavior stopped after no more than three days of this training.

Thanks for the advice. I'll keep up the training. It's so frustrating. I put her back in and she was instantly back at the pecking feathers business. She got to where she knew she was gonna get poked, so she would pick and run like the wind. Then a couple of them were chest bumping. Makes me wonder if some of my "pullets" are really cockerels.

Finally got them settled down & put them to bed for the night. She seemed ok this morning, so I left her in with them when I went to work. Came home to check on the a couple hours later & found that she had pecked one until there was blood, and the other two until they had new bald spots Then I noticed the others picking at each others spots again. I covered them again with Pick no More and put them back in. Then the offender began pecking at the black Australorps whom she has never bothered before. (She only picked on the other Buff Orpingtons) Took out the offender and put her in solitary again until I can be there with them this evening.

 

[azygous]

Boy, sounds like you sure do have your hands full! You have my sympathy.

There are no rules against fashioning a "poker" out of a long stick and /or a sturdy wire. Bend the tip of the wire downward to resemble a bent finger. Wrap the sharp point in duct tape so you don't accidentally stab a chicken. There's your long armed poker!

Repeat after me, "I am smarter than a chicken."

 

[Cluckies]

Thanks for the advice. I'll keep up the training. It's so frustrating. I put her back in and she was instantly back at the pecking feathers business. She got to where she knew she was gonna get poked, so she would pick and run like the wind. Then a couple of them were chest bumping. Makes me wonder if some of my "pullets" are really cockerels.

Finally got them settled down & put them to bed for the night. She seemed ok this morning, so I left her in with them when I went to work. Came home to check on the a couple hours later & found that she had pecked one until there was blood, and the other two until they had new bald spots Then I noticed the others picking at each others spots again. I covered them again with Pick no More and put them back in. Then the offender began pecking at the black Australorps whom she has never bothered before. (She only picked on the other Buff Orpingtons) Took out the offender and put her in solitary again until I can be there with them this evening.

Wow, she is a bad case. can you put her in a cage within the brooder so she can see and not touch the others when you are not around? I hate to say it, but after the hell i've been through with my cluck-cluck, (she is still wearing peepers, and it helps some, but I have two that have large bald spots) if I had one that bad, that young, that is drawing blood, and that doesn't learn after a couple days of being poked.... well, she might go away. This is disruptive to the whole flock.

Some of my other ones also picked up the bad habbit, it spead. so the others will grab a feather now and again. after sunday the temp is suppose to drop, i'm throwing hen saddles on the three that get picked (one being my number one hen, i've only got 5), they will probably have them on for a couple of months until all their feathers grow back. hard thing with that is, when I take the saddles off, the others are used to seeing them with saddles and will start picking (this happened before) some that are being picked now pick. it is terrible.

I just got done making my run way bigger so that hopefully the extra room will help them stay out of reach. we will see. If you want to see my run for just 5 chickens, check out "My Coop" under my avatar.

Good luck.

Here is poor mother (SLW) and goose (EE) who get picked the most, they look terrible:

 

[Tracey Jensen]

This is copied & pasted directly from Forco's website in their FAQS section.

FORCO Feed Supplement Digestive Fortifier

All about FORCO products for horses and small animals

How much FORCO should I feed my small animals (dogs, cats)? chickens?

For small animals (dogs/cats/etc.) suggested daily amount is:

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

For fowl such as chicken:

1 oz. per day per ten birds. Mature chickens weigh five to seven pounds so you can extrapolate how much to feed other fowl such as turkeys or geese based on weight, i.e. 1 oz. per fifty to seventy pounds of bird weight.

Hope it helps clear up some questions.

 

[BBQJOE]

I wonder if a sprinkle of cayenne pepper on the tail feathers might just discourage feather picking?