One hen picking, eating feathers from another - how do you see this ending?

[EmeraldSkye]

I think the Vick's Vapo-Rub may have done it. I haven't seen any pecking on Squirrel since I coated her rear area with it. I'll keep an eye on them for a few more days before I call it a 100% success but so far, so good! (Fingers are crossed.)

 

[Aacre]

Do you have a rooster with your hens? I have a similar problem with tail feather pecking, but I have a rooster that mounts them quite frequently. From what I can tell, he isn't the one pulling tail feathers out. Would Vick's make the rooster want to avoid that particular hen?

 

[EmeraldSkye]

No roosters here (they aren't allowed) so I don't know. I guess you could try it. Even if he avoids her for a couple of weeks until the habit is broken then it might be worth it. Hopefully someone who has tried this with roosters in the mix can give you some advice on that.

 

[kazula5]

I had one chicken that pulled and ate feathers from the other chickens, even picking up feathers from the ground and eating them. She even created a bald spot around the vent of one of the other chickens. They all had plenty of room, food, water, BOSS and a cabbage tether ball, but the picking continued. I switched from Purina feed to one from Tucker Milling which contained meat and bone meal and all the picking and feather eating stopped within a few days. Everyone is very happy now.

 

[donrae]

I'd not thought about the Vick's literally plastering the feathers down and actually making them harder to pick--that's a great bonus!

 

[EmeraldSkye]

I had one chicken that pulled and ate feathers from the other chickens, even picking up feathers from the ground and eating them. She even created a bald spot around the vent of one of the other chickens. They all had plenty of room, food, water, BOSS and a cabbage tether ball, but the picking continued. I switched from Purina feed to one from Tucker Milling which contained meat and bone meal and all the picking and feather eating stopped within a few days. Everyone is very happy now.

I'm on the West Coast so this is a bit out of my geographical range. However, I am planning on switching the girls to Scratch and Peck feed once they finish their current 17% protein grower food. Scratch and Peck will start offering (very soon) higher percentage protein layer foods in addition to their regular stuff. One is 18% and one is actually 22%. I can try the 18% when it's available and in the meantime I'm heavily supplementing their regular offerings with protein supplements and their treats are all protein (hard-boiled eggs, meal worms, BOSS). If the 18% doesn't look like it's adequate then I can see what the 22% does. Mine have a sizable run, and will get a larger one in the springtime, but cannot free-range. So they aren't able to supplement their own feed with bugs except for any worms they find in the soil. So to me it makes sense that if they can't forage for protein I have to bring the protein to them. Scratch and Peck provides protein in the feed by using peas, camelina meal, and fish meal.

I could try crickets for a good time but I'm afraid of some of the crickets escaping and then multiplying possibly. Is this founded / unfounded? Are the crickets you buy in pet stores to feed to other pets (reptiles?) actually sterile?

 

[EmeraldSkye]

Update on my hens: Despite slathering Squirrel's rear area with Vicks, she (Squirrel) kept losing tail feathers to Lucille. She has only two long ones now. If Lucille pulled one that made a bloody spot then Bella would be drawn to that bloody spot but once I sprayed Blu Kote on it then Bella would lose interest. So it was just a Lucille vs Squirrel issue still, thankfully. I have really amped up the protein treats... I am giving them a free-feeding supplement called FeatherGlow Eggfood. Which they love. I am also giving them another feather molting supplement stirred into yogurt a few times a week. They also have access to BOSS. Additionally, I've been spraying Squirrel's back end with Bitter Yuck. So far, so good... Squirrel still has those two long tail feathers and I don't see any signs of any more shorter feathers being pulled out. When I am out there I haven't heard Lucille doing any pulling. And she's not shy about doing it in front of me. It's been at least a couple of weeks since I've seen any signs of the pulling. I really hope I have addressed this before it became a habit. I'll keep spraying Squirrel (poor thing, she hates it) to keep her tasting bad for a while. In the meantime I'll keep the protein coming. Soon I'll be able to double their daytime run space - I'm just waiting for a nice large stand of sugar snap peas to finish up producing.

I did buy some pinless peepers and they are sitting here, ready to be deployed if needed. I'm hoping they can stay in their bag.

 

[EmeraldSkye]

Nothing has changed from my last update. I'm still giving the chickens Eggfood and also a feather molting supplement. That way if one of them (*ahem*... Lucille) was picking and eating feathers to get some thing she was missing in her diet then she would be getting it from the supplements. I did have to spray Squirrel a couple more times with the Bitter Yuck but haven't had to do that for a couple of weeks now.

Their BIG NEWS is the roaming area expansion!! If they now get to roam over 900 square feet of space is it still called a "run"? Here's what they have now:





This past weekend my husband and I enclosed the entire garden (top and sides) with aviary netting. Now they can get away from each other and scratch at so much ground. I'm going to install a patch of grass in there for them to enjoy very soon. They are much happier now!!

 

[EmeraldSkye]

Still no more feather picking... it looks like the Bitter Yuck and the protein enhancement of the diet may have done the trick before the habit became ingrained.

Here's an interesting picture of Squirrel's tail end. When Squirrel had no tail because Lucille pulled out her feathers I put stuff on her rump area to try to discourage pecking. It stained the feathers purple. On a few feathers you can see a distinct line from where the feather grew out since then.