Peck wounds, Missing Feathers Not Healing

[arstarr]

So my hens are about 9 months old and I've always had trouble with my them pecking each other and pulling feathers out. I've tried blu-kote, Vetericyn Antimicrobial Poultry Care Spray, letting them free range more to get away from each other, and vitamin supplements in their water. Nothing seems to help. Even my ladies who don't have fresh wounds and seem to be healing, the feathers don't seem to be growing back. They pop out like fresh feathers but never seem to get past that stage.
I've had one chicken successfully grow feathers back completely, but she was quarantined in our "chicken hospital" for two weeks after the others targeted her and almost killed her. The images below are of my best girl, Florence. I feel totally horrible and helpless. Can anyone recommend something that will help her heal up and regrow her feathers?

I should add that I grew up with chickens so I'm familiar with raising them but we never had this issue in the past. And I have no rooster.

 

[sourland]

Sorry that you are dealing with this problem. Do an on site search on Pin Less Peepers. They can be used to break this habit. Once feathers are regrown, they can be removed, and sometimes the birds will not feather pick/pluck. Good luck.

 

[FunClucks]

So my hens are about 9 months old and I've always had trouble with my them pecking each other and pulling feathers out. I've tried blu-kote, Vetericyn Antimicrobial Poultry Care Spray, letting them free range more to get away from each other, and vitamin supplements in their water. Nothing seems to help. Even my ladies who don't have fresh wounds and seem to be healing, the feathers don't seem to be growing back. They pop out like fresh feathers but never seem to get past that stage.
I've had one chicken successfully grow feathers back completely, but she was quarantined in our "chicken hospital" for two weeks after the others targeted her and almost killed her. The images below are of my best girl, Florence. I feel totally horrible and helpless. Can anyone recommend something that will help her heal up and regrow her feathers?

I should add that I grew up with chickens so I'm familiar with raising them but we never had this issue in the past. And I have no rooster.

Have you checked for mites or lice? Sometimes mites can lead to them pulling their own feathers out. Have you considered depluming mites?

I assume you've already increased your protein in your feed to at least 20% and free-feed a commercial layer or all-flock diet with separate bins for grit and oyster shell. Feather eating is often started by lack of protein in the diet and/or crowding conditions, but once it starts it's super hard to stop.

Sounds like you're providing them with lots of things to do. Do you have clutter in your run so they can get out of each other's line of sight and run away good? Do you have a lot of perches, and how high, where are they? How big is your run and how big is your coop? Pictures can help.

Have you tried pinless peepers on the offenders? That helped mine for a while, but it wasn't a total solution.

Good luck. That's heartbreaking!

 

[arstarr]

Have you checked for mites or lice? Sometimes mites can lead to them pulling their own feathers out. Have you considered depluming mites?

I assume you've already increased your protein in your feed to at least 20% and free-feed a commercial layer or all-flock diet with separate bins for grit and oyster shell. Feather eating is often started by lack of protein in the diet and/or crowding conditions, but once it starts it's super hard to stop.

Sounds like you're providing them with lots of things to do. Do you have clutter in your run so they can get out of each other's line of sight and run away good? Do you have a lot of perches, and how high, where are they? How big is your run and how big is your coop? Pictures can help.

Have you tried pinless peepers on the offenders? That helped mine for a while, but it wasn't a total solution.

Good luck. That's heartbreaking!

Have you checked for mites or lice? Sometimes mites can lead to them pulling their own feathers out. Have you considered depluming mites?

I assume you've already increased your protein in your feed to at least 20% and free-feed a commercial layer or all-flock diet with separate bins for grit and oyster shell. Feather eating is often started by lack of protein in the diet and/or crowding conditions, but once it starts it's super hard to stop.

Sounds like you're providing them with lots of things to do. Do you have clutter in your run so they can get out of each other's line of sight and run away good? Do you have a lot of perches, and how high, where are they? How big is your run and how big is your coop? Pictures can help.

Have you tried pinless peepers on the offenders? That helped mine for a while, but it wasn't a total solution.

Good luck. That's heartbreaking!

I check them often for mites and other pests but haven't noticed anything. They also are avid dust bathers! Even when free ranging, they stay pretty close to each other. They eat well and seem content with their food. We haven't noticed any deficiencies, and have had great egg production! I don't observe much pecking when I'm out there with them, and if I do, I intervene. They have 4 sf per chicken (both coop and run) which is what was recommended by multiple sources including our local feed store, but they free range 4 days a week (when I'm home to make sure nothing comes into the yard to eat them).

 

[FunClucks]

I check them often for mites and other pests but haven't noticed anything. They also are avid dust bathers! Even when free ranging, they stay pretty close to each other. They eat well and seem content with their food. We haven't noticed any deficiencies, and have had great egg production! I don't observe much pecking when I'm out there with them, and if I do, I intervene. They have 4 sf per chicken (both coop and run) which is what was recommended by multiple sources including our local feed store, but they free range 4 days a week (when I'm home to make sure nothing comes into the yard to eat them).

Depluming mites are microscopic and can be very hard to diagnose. Might want to research how to figure if you have those and how to get rid of them, they can be a challenge.

But I think your main culprit is probably lack of space, especially because your birds are so affected. 4 sq ft in the coop is what is recommended here, I think assuming you can let them out in the morning every day. If they live there full time or for a couple days, 10 sq feet per chicken minimum is recommended. For the run, the minimum recommendation is 10 sq feet in the run. However, my girls live in a covered combination coop/run full time (due to predators), and I've found I need more space than that. I have a large fowl mixed flock (4 production reds - ISA Brown, Golden Comet), Buff Orpington, 6 prairie bluebells, 3 starlight green eggers, and an olive egger. I'm at 15 hens and a rooster currently in a 10'x20' covered run, and I'm still having some moderate pecking issues in spite of using pinless peepers to deter pecking for about a month. I have at least 2 hens I know that are eating others feathers, still trying to determine if it's personality or space or what.

I'd get them more space in their run, pronto, and a lot more things to do in it. Electric netting is what a number of folks use for a semi-permanent enclosure, covered by bird netting. That can be quickly set up while building a more permanent structure, or kept and used as-is to extend the run.