Pecking and Eating Feathers

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It could be a habit already. I would try keeping her separate but within the group for a week or two to see if it breaks the habit. Make it it's own little pen within the pen. I might even keep it separated longer.

 

[azygous]

Since these little criminal pickers are just four weeks old, perhaps you can do a little aversion therapy and nip it in the bud. Since you have the feather picker identified and segregated, it makes the next step easy. Put a couple of buddies in with her and then observe.

Keep careful watch. Each time you see the picker go after a chick's feathers, give her a swift poke on the back. Each and every time. In fact, it's even better if you can get ahead of her and poke her as she's acquiring her target. You'll get good at recognizing the process.

I do this with week-olds that start getting fixated on other chicks' down. It works in an incredibly short amount of time.

Sixteen chicks in a 36 square foot area is awfully crowded. There might be the cause of your problem.

As Old Hen suggests, take these twerps out for day trips in the yard. A change of scenery will take their minds off their bad habits. Before you do it, however, teach them to come to you when you call them. You can easily accomplish this in a very short few lessons by using a favorite treat in a container you will use every time, and use the same verbal cue each time you offer the treats. After a while you won't need the treat, only to utter the verbal cue or show them the container and they'll come racing to you.

I taught all my chickens to come to me while they were still babies. Now I can get them all back in from free ranging in about 30 seconds just by yelling out the magic words. Sure does come in handy.

 

[alessadry]

Yup, I am big on training chicks to come when called, as being a dog trainer myself, I know how important it is. They learn really fast! and I have done some workshops on training chickens, so much fun!

I started even clicker training this chick to learn a few simple tricks and she seems highly intelligent! In the middle of clicking and giving her yolk for targeting my hand, she suddenly stopped eating and started grooming herself which I find odd.

I tried to distract her with some more egg, but no, she preferred grooming herself and I am afraid she will soon learn that she can pull her own feathers and eat them. I was thinking it it could be a matter of space (but they had so many things to do to keep themselves occupied (perches, grit scattered on the ground, 3 containers of food offering 3 different varieties of food fermented, ground, full size, grass, a hung treat to peck when bored, and I would catch them a few grasshoppers to chase): !)or a matter of protein but then I wonder why all other chicks are fine, she's the only troublemaker.

Edited to say: my bad, my husband just measured the area they were in and the area was actually 9x9 foot for sure. Would that still be too small?

 

[azygous]

81 square feet should be adequate for four-week olds. However, they need to be outdoors where there are a lot of other distractions. Being cooped up at their age forces them to focus attention on one another instead of the environment - scratching in the soil for insects, exploring and eating green plants, and keeping watch for predators all require attention that they aren't focusing on at present so they focus on each other instead.

Chicken psychology is an important, yet under-utilized, part of flock management.

 

[alessadry]

Thanks azygous for all the information provided,

Taking them out is in the planning, had only have to wait for the fence to installed, I live in a rural area, and the store ran out of the fencing, so had to wait to get the last piece and got it installed today.


Today took the baby chick out in the fenced yard area that I cleaned up to make sure there's nothing that can harm her. In these 2 days we were forced to keep her separated from the other chicks, and she must have "imprinted" on us 'cause all she wanted to do in the fenced area is follow us and jump on our laps.

We stayed 2 hours out with her, and even though I couldn't get her to do more appropriate " chicken behaviors " other than peck a cricket, this seemed to have relaxed her and tired her out.

While she was on my lap, I got to look at her more closely. She kept grooming herself, slightly pulling her feathers. I tried to distract her, but it seems like she a bit fixated on her feathers for some reason. She left some "dry skin (danrduff?") on my pants when I placed her off my lap. I wonder if she has dry skin. All other chicks preen themselves, but she seems more fixated on it and does it when I would expect her to do something else (like eat the yolks I offer her or explore something new).

Tomorrow is the big day. All the other chicks were given 3 days to get acclimated to their new coop. Feather pecker will be in the fenced are first and then her buddies will join her. She will be watched VERY closely. I am planning to use something to mark her so that I can recognize her from the others.

If she behaves, I think she it would be safe to go to sleep with them considering how mellow they are at night, but then as soon as the sun rises, I would have t get up and open the coop to let them out. I so hope this works.