pine tar and feather pecking

[ChicksR4Me]

I read somewhere on here that pin tar on chickens will help with feather pecking. Some of my chickens lower backs and around thier tail feather are bald. I've been having a problem with feather pecking for some time now and have tried to remedy the problem by giving them more space and increasing their protein. There is 11 birds and the coop is 8' x 20' and the run is now 30 x 80 feet. Much more space then then had before. I make oatmeal for them and add yogurt and ground up cat food to it. I give them black oil sunflower seed. They have oyster shell available for them. Their normal feed is "egg maker" which I keep available and they go through that at a pretty normal rate.

I really don't know what else to do so I got the pine tar. It is really thick. How do you apply it to the birds? Should I try to warm it to soften it or what? Has anyone on here had success with it?
Thank you ;-)

 

[gritsar]

I have had great success with pine tar, but if you have to use it on multiple birds for long periods it's gonna get messy.
You have to apply it best you can. A tongue depressor or popsicle stick works. So does rubber gloves and just dip it out.
Good luck.

 

[Akane]

Do you have roos? Bald backs is often a sign of too much mating or too rough of a rooster.