Alice(Ancona) is still picking the Wyandotte's feathers. The apron I have on Ruby (GLW) has stayed on well enough to where he back pattern feathers are growing back nicely, but sometimes the back of the apron curls up and exposes her tail base, which is being plucked, along with her tail feathers. (She has about 6 tail feathers now, maybe a couple more)
Lacey(SLW)'s apron is not staying on as well and keeps sliding off to the side, so I ended up just taking it off even though she's got a big bare spot on her back.
Alice has been observed by me and my family members harrassing both the wyandottes, and I saw he pluck my easter egger. I wonder if the patterned feathers make her want to pick them since she leaves the young RIR(same age as easter egger), buff O and black Australorp alone. They all have solid feathers. I haven't seen her pick on my cuckoo marans, but upon examining her, she seems to have some broken feather shafts on her back and scabs like the wyandottes. I've checked for bugs, there are none. The coop maybe be a llllittttle small for 8 chickens since it was designed for 6, and the run is 12x6 i think, so again, it might be a bit small, but no one else seems agitated or upset and no one else is picking.
Alice's comb is really massive so I really don't think pinless peepers are going to sit comfortable on her beak. We can't easily isolate due to limited space, but right now I have Alice wrapped in a towel on my lap since I don't know what else to do with her. She might just be more aggressive/territorial, especially since we got rid of our rooster a couple months ago(no one was being plucked then, we had to get rid of our roo because roosters are illegal here and we didn't want to bug our neighbors despite them telling us they liked to hear the crowing). Alice also likes to run up to me and peck/scrape my clothes and whatnot, and she has bitten me a couple times.
We would really rather not cull her or rehome her, but we're sort of at a loss... I haven't seen any success stories about feather picking hens though...
Lacey(SLW)'s apron is not staying on as well and keeps sliding off to the side, so I ended up just taking it off even though she's got a big bare spot on her back.
Alice has been observed by me and my family members harrassing both the wyandottes, and I saw he pluck my easter egger. I wonder if the patterned feathers make her want to pick them since she leaves the young RIR(same age as easter egger), buff O and black Australorp alone. They all have solid feathers. I haven't seen her pick on my cuckoo marans, but upon examining her, she seems to have some broken feather shafts on her back and scabs like the wyandottes. I've checked for bugs, there are none. The coop maybe be a llllittttle small for 8 chickens since it was designed for 6, and the run is 12x6 i think, so again, it might be a bit small, but no one else seems agitated or upset and no one else is picking.
Alice's comb is really massive so I really don't think pinless peepers are going to sit comfortable on her beak. We can't easily isolate due to limited space, but right now I have Alice wrapped in a towel on my lap since I don't know what else to do with her. She might just be more aggressive/territorial, especially since we got rid of our rooster a couple months ago(no one was being plucked then, we had to get rid of our roo because roosters are illegal here and we didn't want to bug our neighbors despite them telling us they liked to hear the crowing). Alice also likes to run up to me and peck/scrape my clothes and whatnot, and she has bitten me a couple times.
We would really rather not cull her or rehome her, but we're sort of at a loss... I haven't seen any success stories about feather picking hens though...
