FunClucks
Crowing
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!!!
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!!!
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