Newbie looking for advice on increasing protein in flock diet: Feather-pecking issue

[GranmaEm]

My Cream Legbar is feather-pecking my rescue Polish hen. After wading through the academic papers and practical advice here I don't think the root cause is aggression. She surgically goes for the feathers near the preen gland and no skin is broken.

The area they free-range in by day (bearing in mind there's only 3 full-grown chooks) is at least 150 square meters and in there I have planted them a chicken vegetable garden, provided a climbing frame and offer fruit once a day.

They are fed an ad-lib high quality layers mash with added freeze-dried mealworms (I calculated the amount added to increase dietary protein to 22%). A small handful of scratch grains is provided just before dusk.

I tried a DEFRA approved bumper bit for all of three hours, but I am as distressed as the chicken at her inability to forage and eat normally, so would like to keep on trying to find a dietary solution.

I am in the UK and can't seem to find game-bird feed that contains animal protein ( which seems to be recommended).

I have tried cooked egg (which was ignored) and processed cat-food (which seems over-processed).

What do people suggest?

Because of the tiny size of the "flock" cost isn't an issue for now.

 

[Araucana16]

I've always fed live mealworms. Around the time I had the chicks, I had four lizards, and they will only eat live; maybe chickens are the same way? I would try it again, except this time a trip to Petco. Usually there is a little fridge, and I would go for the small ones... I never tried out the large ones on my birds (dragons love them too much

), but they'd probably enjoy those too.

 

[GranmaEm]

They do tuck into the mealworms, but I was wondering if other insects or even beef is an option?

 

[Araucana16]

Beef? Hm. I'm a vegetarian myself, and the chickens were therefore the same way

I don't know about that, but if it's well shredded and cooked, I'd go for it.

Other insects, YES! Mine loved caterpillars, pill bugs, flies, and almost every other insect under the moon.

 

[Kelsie2290]

For easy protein supplements, my chickens love hamburger, raw or cooked, actually they love pretty much all types of ground meat, even chicken... meat doesn't have to be ground, it just seems easier for them to eat that way. We have our own beef so do feed them a lot of beef as leftovers, they will happily compete with the dogs for it. They also like dry dog food/ cat food / fish food that is in small pieces, like puppy or kitten food or koi fish food, all of those are pretty high in protein. Bugs of any sorts of course, not sure what you can get in the UK, but besides meal worms, live crickets, wax worms, maggots of various flys etc, pretty much if it is a bug they will eat it. With eggs, if they don't like hard boiled eggs, have you tried scrambled?
Do you know when the feather picking is going on? Is it during the day or at night when they are on the roost? I have very few problems when they free range all the time, as yours seem to? I have had problems pretty consistently when mixing polish in with the general chicken population if they are at all crowded on the roost, are locked in the coop at all, or if the polish try to snuggle with the other chickens. It does not seem to have anything to do with a lack of protein, more just the other chickens just can't seem to help themselves, like preening gone wrong... it is usually the head feathers but sometimes other feathers also. A lot of times the same chickens will also eat the puffy face feathers off of chickens with them. I have not had much luck with getting a chicken who is a confirmed feather plucker to stop plucking a particular chicken without separating them.

 

[GranmaEm]

The picking is not when they are on the roost. It's when they are out foraging together on a grassy area.

You can see the Legbar forming the intent as she looks up, cocks her neck and eyes the Polish's back and selects a delectable morsel. At least it's not the head, but the Polish had such a rough time with her injuries and just started laying again that she does not need an additional stressor.

I have heard that it's impossible to stop. The bumper bits are said to work - and I can see why - they make it mechanically impossible. My feeling, after 3 hours of close observation is that it affects the normal behaviour of the chicken to the extent that I think is cruel.

So I'll try another protein boost, the absolutely vile spray (Scarper! it's called) and then institute a Berlin Wall. Sigh.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Hopefully, putting something that tastes bad on the feathers will stop the picking.

I think what you call bumpers may be what we call peepers in the US. If you don't want to use them, that's fine. Most chickens adapt to them and she wouldn't need to wear them forever, just temporarily. This would break the pattern of picking and also allow the other chicken to grow her feathers back.

The other thing you could try is making what's called an apron for the bird that's getting picked. It's like a cape, that goes over their back and has elastic loops that go around the wings, to keep it on. Again, this is something that chickens may not like at first, but that they get used to wearing. It would need to be long enough to cover the area that's getting picked.

Try to get this stopped as soon as you can. The longer it's a habit, the harder it will be to break. Also, this can lead to tissue damage and the killing of a chicken. Cannibalism in chickens often starts with more mild, but insistent pecking and escalates. First it's feathers being pulled out, then the pecking draws a little blood. Once the first blood appears, it can go horribly wrong. It may not, but it's always a possibility.

I looked at this post last night and I'm not sure what to think, as far as cause. Their diet seems fine to me, really. These are the chickens you got from your neighbor recently? Or do you both have legbars? If the legbar used to be at your neighbor's, was it's diet low in protein? Maybe it needs more time on the diet you have them on now. The other thing is, do the feeds over there balance the amino acid profiles in the feed, like for the methionine and lysine levels in the feed? If not, then that could be contributing to the problem. In that case, it isn't the amount of protein that's the problem, it's the amount of usable protein in the feed. Plant proteins are low in the part of the protein that feathers are made of.

One of the things that may be key in this issue is also temperament. Legbars were developed from leghorns and they are a much more aggressive breed than the Polish. A less aggressive or assertive chicken probably wouldn't be pecking your Polish. A more aggressive or assertive chicken wouldn't take it, would turn around and tell your legbar to back off. They might just be a bad combination to live together.

Sometimes Polish are more confident and can get around better if they have their head feathers trimmed enough so that they can see better. If she has a really full head of feathers, you could also try that.

I hope you can resolve this problem. I think this aspect of chicken keeping is the worst, when it becomes a problem.

 

[appps]

Sometimes they have to get used to a new food. I mixed the scrambled eggs with moistened regular food when I saw them eating a lot of feathers off the ground. I think because its with their normal tasting food they get a bit accidentally and so find out its okay. I introduce anything new that way now.

I don't know if its coincidence but the feather eating stopped after a couple days of scrambled eggs.

You could also try spraying the pecked hen with a no pick spray for cage birds from the pet shop. The yucky taste could help deter the offender.

 

[GranmaEm]

Hopefully, putting something that tastes bad on the feathers will stop the picking.

I think what you call bumpers may be what we call peepers in the US. If you don't want to use them, that's fine. Most chickens adapt to them and she wouldn't need to wear them forever, just temporarily. This would break the pattern of picking and also allow the other chicken to grow her feathers back.

The other thing you could try is making what's called an apron for the bird that's getting picked. It's like a cape, that goes over their back and has elastic loops that go around the wings, to keep it on. Again, this is something that chickens may not like at first, but that they get used to wearing. It would need to be long enough to cover the area that's getting picked.

Try to get this stopped as soon as you can. The longer it's a habit, the harder it will be to break. Also, this can lead to tissue damage and the killing of a chicken. Cannibalism in chickens often starts with more mild, but insistent pecking and escalates. First it's feathers being pulled out, then the pecking draws a little blood. Once the first blood appears, it can go horribly wrong. It may not, but it's always a possibility.

I looked at this post last night and I'm not sure what to think, as far as cause. Their diet seems fine to me, really. These are the chickens you got from your neighbor recently? Or do you both have legbars? If the legbar used to be at your neighbor's, was it's diet low in protein? Maybe it needs more time on the diet you have them on now. The other thing is, do the feeds over there balance the amino acid profiles in the feed, like for the methionine and lysine levels in the feed? If not, then that could be contributing to the problem. In that case, it isn't the amount of protein that's the problem, it's the amount of usable protein in the feed. Plant proteins are low in the part of the protein that feathers are made of.

One of the things that may be key in this issue is also temperament. Legbars were developed from leghorns and they are a much more aggressive breed than the Polish. A less aggressive or assertive chicken probably wouldn't be pecking your Polish. A more aggressive or assertive chicken wouldn't take it, would turn around and tell your legbar to back off. They might just be a bad combination to live together.

Sometimes Polish are more confident and can get around better if they have their head feathers trimmed enough so that they can see better. If she has a really full head of feathers, you could also try that.

I hope you can resolve this problem. I think this aspect of chicken keeping is the worst, when it becomes a problem.

Peepers are banned in the UK. The bumper bits fit into the mouth with a bit sticking out the front. It's a struggle to fit and I really wasn't happy with what it did to the offender. Separation seems less cruel.

I did get the hen apron and trimmed the doozy Polish hen's feathers around her eyes a bit. This hen just has no sense of self-preservation whatsoever, which is probably what got her mauled in the first place. It's a good point about the legbar. She is a cheeky one and only respects the huge Buff Orpington. The plan wasn't to have a Polish - it just kind of happened after I treated her injuries.

Your point about the amino acids is a very good one. I'm assuming (without evidence) that the "posh", organic, non GMO layers mash is nutritionally balanced, but it is vegetable in origin. I'll research that bit further, but what protein source would be good for boosting these two?

The vile spray has definitely slowed down Ms Aggression a bit and she is not aiming for the back now. That's a start.

 

[GranmaEm]

Beef liver appears to have the highest content by weight of these two essential amino acids.