Chwicks
Chirping
Hi everyone. I’m in a bit of a pickle and could use some help/advice. Please bear with me while I give some history. The question is at the end...
We have 13 pullets (age 31 1/2 weeks) and 1 cockerel (same age). Well, my cockerel has obviously been heavily breeding several of the ladies and the downy feathers around their saddle areas are starting to show.
I went out on Tuesday and noticed that one of the girls had all of her feathers picked off her saddle area and it was bare, red, and bloody. I immediately scooped her up, treated the wound after cleaning, and separated her from all the other chickens.
Since these are my first chickens, I didn’t have any aprons on hand, so I immediately starting sewing up some using the fabric I have here (we live in a very rural area). I got one made on Tuesday and put it on her.
Wednesday I separated my cockerel from the ladies and left the one with her apron on with the other girls. I’ve been cleaning her up every day. I continued making aprons Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday I put aprons on two of the other girls with lots of the downy feathers showing. I continue making aprons Friday because there were a couple of other girls that I was concerned about, but weren’t severe.
Saturday I go out and two other girls (not yet wearing aprons) had been picked clean, and one was pretty severe. They broke through the skin and she has an open gash. I cleaned them all up, put aprons on the ones that just had feathers picked away and isolated my worst pullet. She’s in a large dog kennel in the garage. It’s going to take her a while to heal.
I clean their coop and run every day, which is usually an hour long process, so they aren’t without visual daily checks. I couldn’t believe how quickly things unraveled. I decided to sit in there and watch what was happening.
The girls are pulling one another’s feathers out!
I don’t know what to do!! It’s like their curiosity was peaked by the downy feathers and now their just obsessed with pulling one another’s feathers.
They don’t get to free range because we have WAY too many predators here, and we have about 2’ of snow already on the ground. I have little trails I’ve shoveled in the snow for them, but when I let them out to roam while I clean each day they just eat snow right outside the run door.
What can I do to stop the feather picking? Do you think they will stop? Is it hopeless?
We feed them a grower/finisher crumbed (all day access) and throw out about two cups of a corn (not cracked), black sunflower, oat mixture twice a day (a.m. and p.m.).
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
We have 13 pullets (age 31 1/2 weeks) and 1 cockerel (same age). Well, my cockerel has obviously been heavily breeding several of the ladies and the downy feathers around their saddle areas are starting to show.
I went out on Tuesday and noticed that one of the girls had all of her feathers picked off her saddle area and it was bare, red, and bloody. I immediately scooped her up, treated the wound after cleaning, and separated her from all the other chickens.
Since these are my first chickens, I didn’t have any aprons on hand, so I immediately starting sewing up some using the fabric I have here (we live in a very rural area). I got one made on Tuesday and put it on her.
Wednesday I separated my cockerel from the ladies and left the one with her apron on with the other girls. I’ve been cleaning her up every day. I continued making aprons Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday I put aprons on two of the other girls with lots of the downy feathers showing. I continue making aprons Friday because there were a couple of other girls that I was concerned about, but weren’t severe.
Saturday I go out and two other girls (not yet wearing aprons) had been picked clean, and one was pretty severe. They broke through the skin and she has an open gash. I cleaned them all up, put aprons on the ones that just had feathers picked away and isolated my worst pullet. She’s in a large dog kennel in the garage. It’s going to take her a while to heal.
I clean their coop and run every day, which is usually an hour long process, so they aren’t without visual daily checks. I couldn’t believe how quickly things unraveled. I decided to sit in there and watch what was happening.
The girls are pulling one another’s feathers out!
I don’t know what to do!! It’s like their curiosity was peaked by the downy feathers and now their just obsessed with pulling one another’s feathers.
They don’t get to free range because we have WAY too many predators here, and we have about 2’ of snow already on the ground. I have little trails I’ve shoveled in the snow for them, but when I let them out to roam while I clean each day they just eat snow right outside the run door.
What can I do to stop the feather picking? Do you think they will stop? Is it hopeless?
We feed them a grower/finisher crumbed (all day access) and throw out about two cups of a corn (not cracked), black sunflower, oat mixture twice a day (a.m. and p.m.).
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.