Need Help to stop feather eating - ends only. Pinless peepers not working so well

[FunClucks]

So I have a flock of 15 hens, 1 rooster, standard/production breeds, all 6-7 months old. Living in an open air enclosed run, 10x20 greenhouse frame covered with hardware cloth and a clear tarp over top. We don't free range due to AI and predators.

In the last month or two, the hens have started eating the tips of multiple bird's feathers. One bird (Olive) has been eaten up very badly (to the point where the others have eaten about half her feathers, and I'm getting worried about her staying warm in the winter), and the other birds have a moderate level of feathers being eaten on the ends. About 3-4 hens (highest on the pecking order) and the rooster have not shown eaten feathers. The feathers are not being pulled out, but the ends are being eaten, in Olive's case, up to half of each feather. So there's nothing telling their bodies to grow the feathers back, cause they weren't plucked out.

I got pinless peepers and put them on everyone except my lowest pecking order chicken - she wasn't disturbing anyone even after everyone else had the peepers on. My worst bullies keep pulling them off themselves with their feet, and then attacking the pinless peepers on the other birds, and dragging the hens that have the pinless peepers out of the nest boxes by the peepers. It seems to make the attacking worse by the birds that have managed to get them off, and I don't know of another way to keep the birds from eating the ends of each others' feathers.

How can I get the pinless peepers to stay on the bird, particularly my ISA Brown? Is there a technique I'm missing?

Any other ways to get my flock to stop eating each others' feathers? I'd just let them do it, but the behavior is getting worse, and it's getting below freezing at night, and I want them to stay warm. Also the freezing weather is the reason I haven't been applying blue-kote to make the feathers taste bad.

Do you think adding curtains to the nest boxes would help the bully hens stop grabbing the sitting hens by the pinless peepers and pulling them out of the nest boxes? I use 5 gallon bucket sitting on their sides at the edges of the run, with a landscape paver in the mouth to keep the bucket in place and the clean shavings inside. There are four nest boxes.

I'm feeding 20% protein Purina FlockRaiser, separate calcium rocks ("oyster shell") and grit available free choice. Nipple waterers on two 5 gal buckets. Two treadle style feeders.

My run has plenty of clutter, I think. I feed table food treats every few days, and scatter a few handfuls of scratch and/or mealworms once a day so they can hunt and scratch in the woodchips of the run, and we use skewers for the fruits/veggies when possible. They dig holes for dust bathing and sun themselves.

I treated them for giardia, threadworms, and leg mites about two months ago. The leg mites haven't come back that I've seen. No evidence of lice or mites on the birds - I checked each one on the back/neck, vent, and feet.

Now that it's cold, I put plastic on the lower run walls to create a draft free lower area in the greenhouse so they can perch/huddle at night in the cold weather. They roost on top of the pallets that make up the edges of the huddle box, but if it will freeze in the night, I go out after dark and put them inside the huddle box on the 2x4 perches. There's three perches about 3" above the bottom of the huddle box, and the chickens roost in the dark with their heads and tails touching each other when I put them in the huddle box. The feather problems started about a month or more before I built them the huddle box. They used to perch on one long branch going down the center of the run.

I roll up the bottom edges of the wall plastic to give more ventilation during the day when it's not below freezing, and roll it down and secure it at night, especially if there's wind.

I don't know what else to do, and everything I've tried hasn't fixed the problem. Your input would be super welcome!!!

 

[Acre4Me]

Agree with perches. We had done bullying one year and added perches in the run-worked very well bc they don’t bully so much on perches in the run.

Also up the protein in their diet. All flock feed is usually 20%. But, you can give them meat -just watch the salt. Bake a chicken (or boil it) and let them at it or the leftover from your meal, just give them unsalted meat. But, beef, chicken, pork, turkey or fish are all loved by our little feathered omnivores. Feathers are 99% protein, so sometimes feather eating/picking is bc of a lack of protein.

Aside from straight meat, you can also supplement with DRY cat food (moisten it a touch or break it up a bit smaller). Cat food is not meant for chickens, but in a pinch, it can be used temporarily as a supplement. Same goes for catfish pellets one might use to feed their pond fish. Go easy on mealworms, if you use those, bc while they are high in protein, they are also very high in fat (like 50% fat on a dried weight basis, I think).

Do not give “treats” bc it dilutes needed nutrition. But, you can give their feed made into a mash with water as a treat. Sprinkle seeds or meat or fruit on top as enticement. My flock LOVES wet feed.

Good luck with this issue.

 

[mydaisy]

@Acre4Me X2 on this, agree completely.

On another note, I guess my morning coffee wore off because I was thinking "AI? What could that be - drones? Robots? What in the world"?
Then my lightbulb moment: OH!!! AI meaning Avian Influenza not Artificial Intelligence

 

[coach723]

What we think is a good idea, and what they think is a good idea, often are very different!!
Chicken logic is a whole different thing. When there is an issue, you have to try to look at it from their point of view, sometimes a challenge. I've got juveniles who've decided it's better to sleep under their little coop rather than in it. Same baby coop I've used for years. So I go out every evening and put them in til they learn inside is where they should be. Argh. They can be very much creatures of habit and getting them to accept change can be a challenge sometimes. I moved a fence in their run once, making it larger. They would not cross the line in the grass where the fence used to be. Had to go out and physically put them over the line, every one of them, til they figured out they could. Duh.
Curtains may help, some birds like them. But it may take some time for them to get used to them, and may cause issues while they do. I used to have them, had to pin them back and gradually close them more and more over time til they were accustomed to them, otherwise they just treated them like a closed door and wouldn't go in. I got rid of them eventually due to them collecting dust, droppings, bugs etc and being one more thing to deal with.

 

[julianna47]

@Acre4Me X2 on this, agree completely.

On another note, I guess my morning coffee wore off because I was thinking "AI? What could that be - drones? Robots? What in the world"?
Then my lightbulb moment: OH!!! AI meaning Avian Influenza not Artificial Intelligence

Hah!!! Meee toooooo!!! Artificial intelligence

 

[SmiYa0126]

Hello!II think they'll need more protein, can you get 20% protein food? Also, you may need to do some enrichment for them, put more perches in, a bench, put something fun for them to dig through. I know you're keeping them in for predators and ai, but maybe you could let them out for a couple of hours?

 

[coach723]

I think you really need to give them more space, both perch space at night, and for roaming during the day. That's pretty small for 15 birds to be in around the clock. It might work for some birds, but your birds behavior says they need more. What works for one group doesn't necessarily work for another. Your pristine birds are probably the ones picking the feathers of the others. So I would work on extending the space they have during the day. Perches should allow a minimum of 10 inches per bird, and that's a bare minimum. Some birds like to bunch together and touch, others like space and will demand it. It's better to have too much, than not enough. And if perches are spaced enough so that they aren't head to head or head to butt while on them, there is less chance of picking while roosting. Overcrowding and boredom are really the most common causes of behavior like they are displaying. When you have multiple age groups/generations together, they tend to group that way, and roost space can really matter, so more is always better. Same with having a roo in the mix, a roo or a very dominant hen can make an otherwise adequate space, too small. Pinless peepers can work for one or two birds that are habitually bullying others, but when you need to put a bunch of your birds in them then the problem is something else.

 

[FunClucks]

What we think is a good idea, and what they think is a good idea, often are very different!!
Chicken logic is a whole different thing. When there is an issue, you have to try to look at it from their point of view, sometimes a challenge. I've got juveniles who've decided it's better to sleep under their little coop rather than in it. Same baby coop I've used for years. So I go out every evening and put them in til they learn inside is where they should be. Argh. They can be very much creatures of habit and getting them to accept change can be a challenge sometimes. I moved a fence in their run once, making it larger. They would not cross the line in the grass where the fence used to be. Had to go out and physically put them over the line, every one of them, til they figured out they could. Duh.
Curtains may help, some birds like them. But it may take some time for them to get used to them, and may cause issues while they do. I used to have them, had to pin them back and gradually close them more and more over time til they were accustomed to them, otherwise they just treated them like a closed door and wouldn't go in. I got rid of them eventually due to them collecting dust, droppings, bugs etc and being one more thing to deal with.

Thanks, that's helpful. I was thinking of using old feed bags for curtains, but attachment mechanisms, and whether they'll eat them or not remains a question for me. Didn't occur to me that I might have to vary how much they're closed.

 

[FunClucks]

Hello!II think they'll need more protein, can you get 20% protein food? Also, you may need to do some enrichment for them, put more perches in, a bench, put something fun for them to dig through. I know you're keeping them in for predators and ai, but maybe you could let them out for a couple of hours?

Actually, my bad, it is FLockRaiser, which has 20% protein. I'll try to fix my post.

 

[chiknGeek]

My rooster loves Purina cat chow. You can also try scrambled eggs.

They do make peepers with a pin that goes all the way through both nares, but I imagine they are more difficult to use or maybe are meant to be permanent?

Perches are also a really good idea.