Pinless peepers on all or just the offending pullet?

[fluffpuffgerbil]

I got pinless peepers to put on our Ancona Alice who has been plucking my wyandotte's backs, so I put a pair on her and after putting her back in the run, she was instantly swarmed and Ruby(one of the wyandottes who has been plucked the worst) ripped them out of her nose.
Should I try putting them back on just Alice or should I put them on the other 4 as well? I have five 19 week old pullets and three 9 week old pullets, all live together, and I have 6 pinless peepers. Should I put them all on the 19 week olds so no one is plucking anyone's feathers? Lacey and Ruby, the two wyandottes, have bare spots on their back. I put bag balm on the both of them and had put an apron on Ruby just for a couple days until the peepers would arrive(got them today) but I'm hoping the peepers would stop Alice from plucking them, but it won't work if the others just keep trying to pull them off of Alice's face

 

[fluffpuffgerbil]

Or maybe I just won't use them, it looks like some people have pretty negative experiences with them... *sigh* I just don't want my wyandottes to be picked on anymore and I don't think that they should wear the aprons all the time, right?

 

[donrae]

What have you tried up til now to manage the feather pecking? I'm very concerned about such a young pullet doing this to the point it needs intervention.

Are you sure they're all hens? No Oops roosters?
How much space do they have? Pecking is often a behavior from overcrowding.
What are you feeding them? Lack of protein can cause feather pecking. So can a deficiency of Methionine, from what I've read here.

I'm not sure bag balm is going to help, but blue Kote can keep the birds from picking at a wound for a short term fix. But as a long term behavior feather pecking seems very hard to break, so I'd sure look into management issues now.

 

[hannahrachel]

I'd put them on both Ruby and Alice, and watch carefully to see if the other hens will pull them out. If they do, you can always take them off and resort to aprons or saddles.

Your feather picking problem can be a result of boredom, or overcrowding. Since it is summertime, a thing that I do to reduce boredom is freeze fruit and mint in ice cubes for my chickens to eat during the day. It helps them cool down, and keeps them occupied, so there is less of a chance that they will pick (unfortunately, my main feather-loss problem is from my rooster, who is very rough when he mates).

Keep us updated!

 

[fluffpuffgerbil]

What have you tried up til now to manage the feather pecking? I'm very concerned about such a young pullet doing this to the point it needs intervention.

Are you sure they're all hens? No Oops roosters?
How much space do they have? Pecking is often a behavior from overcrowding.
What are you feeding them? Lack of protein can cause feather pecking. So can a deficiency of Methionine, from what I've read here.

I'm not sure bag balm is going to help, but blue Kote can keep the birds from picking at a wound for a short term fix. But as a long term behavior feather pecking seems very hard to break, so I'd sure look into management issues now.

I think they may have been a bit cramped while I had a temporary pen in their run(which is 72sqft, so might be a bit small for 8 birds if just using the 10sqft per bird in the run) and that pen took up a lot of space, but it's gone now that the babies are in the run with them, and I've just started to give them more treats and toys and things to keep occupied so they don't get bored. And I can't freerange with us living in the woods and having neighbors with dogs and stray cats and other wild animals.

I'm feeding them start and grow and have oyster shells for them to eat, and I've been giving them cracked corn and wheat in a little treat ball for them to peck at and every day I give them a couple handfuls of clover and grass.
And yes, no oops roosters. If you want to see for yourself, there are pictures of them in the link in my signature. We had an oops rooster but we got rid of him. Also I know Alice is definitely a hen because she just laid her first egg yesterday =P

I mean, I can only guess that it's her picking the feathers, I've seen her do it several times to Lacey and Ruby, though the fact she's only doing it to them, and not the buff orpington or australorp is confusing. I don't see any mites or lice on either of the wyandottes, and it looks like they have broken feather shafts and little scabs/scrapes/specks of blood. and again, I've seen Alice go up to them and rip feathers off.

The bag balm was suggested to me by another member on here and since we had some from my sister's tattoo, I decided to put that on them.

Currently I have aprons on Lacey and Ruby. Lacey doesn't like hers so far, but Ruby doesn't mind it.

 

[fluffpuffgerbil]

I'd put them on both Ruby and Alice, and watch carefully to see if the other hens will pull them out. If they do, you can always take them off and resort to aprons or saddles.

Your feather picking problem can be a result of boredom, or overcrowding. Since it is summertime, a thing that I do to reduce boredom is freeze fruit and mint in ice cubes for my chickens to eat during the day. It helps them cool down, and keeps them occupied, so there is less of a chance that they will pick (unfortunately, my main feather-loss problem is from my rooster, who is very rough when he mates).

Keep us updated!

Since I live in WA state, the weather goes from 75-80*f and sunny one day to 65 and rainy the next =P Not quite hot enough for them to get agitated, but fruit and mint ice cubes are a great idea. I want to get a kiddy-pool for them to stand in when it starts to get really got. They might have been bored, but I'm trying to give them more stuff to do. They love cardboard boxes, towels, and ultimately they LOVE when I throw a cup of live dubia roaches(i breed them for my lizards and have a ton of excess) right into the run so they can chase and kill and eat them =P

 

[fluffpuffgerbil]

Here are some pics I took 5 days ago of their backs so you guys can see if feather plucking is what it is
(there are only 2 birds featured in these, the GLW and the SLW)

 

[jetdog]

If you think it's boredom I hang a cabbage once a week just high enough so they have to jump to peck at , it usually takes them a couple of days to eat the whole thing.

 

[fluffpuffgerbil]

That's a good idea--- I could try that. I do have a flock block/cake for them, but I'm sort of waiting to give it to them so I don't go through all their treats too fast.

 

[jetdog]

I have a flock block also and they will leave it in a heartbeat for a cabbage, guess they like the greens better, I try to let them out for a couple of hours after I get home so it keeps them entertained during the day.