wonder if anyone can help--
I have a one year old hen going through the world's longest molt. She has been slowly losing feathers for at least 6 months now. She has had a thumb-sized bald patch on the side of her neck for the past few months, and now has a similar-sized one on the other side. I didn't worry too much about it at first because I could see the feathers growing back. But about two months ago, the area was looking red and upon closer inspection I saw that those new feathers that had been growing, were bitten down to little bloody stubs. I posted a thread in another forum looking for a solution, since I couldn't figure out what was happening. Someone suggested that it was mutual grooming and perhaps one of the other hens was over-grooming the area. I would agree with that after watching the chickens interact with one another. The person also suggested using blu-kote on the site to deter future pecking. I don't feel comfortable using blu-kote as I'm not sure how it will affect egg production. What I'm looking for is a natural alternative or some other sort of solution for this problem. I found a recipe online that involved blue food colouring and honey, and while it sort of works, it comes off pretty quickly, and the poor girl spends an hour after I apply it desperately trying to get it off!
Any advice would be very appreciated!
I have a one year old hen going through the world's longest molt. She has been slowly losing feathers for at least 6 months now. She has had a thumb-sized bald patch on the side of her neck for the past few months, and now has a similar-sized one on the other side. I didn't worry too much about it at first because I could see the feathers growing back. But about two months ago, the area was looking red and upon closer inspection I saw that those new feathers that had been growing, were bitten down to little bloody stubs. I posted a thread in another forum looking for a solution, since I couldn't figure out what was happening. Someone suggested that it was mutual grooming and perhaps one of the other hens was over-grooming the area. I would agree with that after watching the chickens interact with one another. The person also suggested using blu-kote on the site to deter future pecking. I don't feel comfortable using blu-kote as I'm not sure how it will affect egg production. What I'm looking for is a natural alternative or some other sort of solution for this problem. I found a recipe online that involved blue food colouring and honey, and while it sort of works, it comes off pretty quickly, and the poor girl spends an hour after I apply it desperately trying to get it off!
Any advice would be very appreciated!
