Self-mutilating Peahen, anyone seen or heard of this?

[zazouse]

I agree that her skin is irritated, kinda like when we were kids getting our teeth in, i still remember the itchy pain and the need to rub the irritated area, not sure what the remedy would be in helping elevate her pain and itching but handing a head of cabbage would be a nutritious way to distract her and will last a couple days with just a few in the pen.

 

[BYC-user-174785]

When I was buying some peachicks last year one had a bloody back since it was picking away at its new feathers. The owner sprayed some Blu-Kote so that the chick would not be attracted to the red blood and I am pretty sure the spray is also supposed to taste bad as well. It worked for my chick. Only downside is you will have a peahen with purplish/blue flight feathers! I have seen Blu-Kote at TSC before.

 

[casportpony]

@DylansMom , have you tried searching for reasons that parrots do it?

-Kathy

 

[Trefoil]

Because she has a chick with her and it is a Spalding chick, I have been feeding both of them chick starter for the past 13 weeks or so, and about a month ago I started mixing some game bird crumble and ultra-kibble in with it. Do you think she would need higher protein than that? I also thought about boredom, but she only does it for about 2 months each year and it is right after the hens molt, I thought maybe she could feel the new feathers growing in and who knows perhaps that itches or something? Once she draws blood I figured the color red gets her attention and keeps her picking at them. When she first started I thought the male in with her had done it, but then day after day I found dried blood on her beak only.

If you are feeding chicken chix starter, its not high protein. The game bird crumbles I get are blue seal and 28%, but elsewhere game bird is mixed seed and a lot lower. I've never fed ultra-kibble, I don't think its a protein supplement though. If the blu coat doesn't work, maybe anti peck will?

 

[Garden Peas]

If you are feeding chicken chix starter, its not high protein. The game bird crumbles I get are blue seal and 28%, but elsewhere game bird is mixed seed and a lot lower. I've never fed ultra-kibble, I don't think its a protein supplement though. If the blu coat doesn't work, maybe anti peck will?

@Trefoil , how do you assess the issues with twisted tibia and high protein feed? Some folks seem to think that feeding high protein starter to chicks like Tsunami results in too rapid growth and a higher incidence of TT... Do you think that using the higher protein starter crumble to alleviate the hen's problem might potentially harm the chick?

 

[Trefoil]

@Trefoil , how do you assess the issues with twisted tibia and high protein feed? Some folks seem to think that feeding high protein starter to chicks like Tsunami results in too rapid growth and a higher incidence of TT... Do you think that using the higher protein starter crumble to alleviate the hen's problem might potentially harm the chick?

I know very little about twisted tibia, my feeling about it are that it probably,when not caused by slipped tendon, is a result of an imbalance between feed and exercise, as in too "rich" feed and too little exercise. Everything that I've read tells me that turkeys are comparable to peas both in feed requirements and disease. If I believe that I have to believe that peas require more than 16-18% protein as their base food when laying or moulting. If the hen's problem is caused by not enough protein, then the extra protein shouldn't hurt the young bird, but if its not, then? I feed my peachicks the 28% medicated starter and haven't had TT problems.

 

[DylansMom]

Okay, well I just checked all feed bags. My medicated chick starter has 18% protein, the game bird crumbles have 24% protein, and the ultra-kibble has 25.5%. I started adding the higher protein recently, because for me here, Tsunami is past the age where I worry about TT plus she is being raised by a hen and I've never in 20 years had it occur in a hen raised chick, just my Fat incubator hatched babies. Barring injury I don't worry about TT past 3 months old, just because I've never seen it happen that late.
I've tried cabbage heads in the winter to give them some greens and they just rotted, my birds are not thrilled with cabbage. They will eat organic dandelion greens from Giant foods, so that is what I get them now. They are quite picky.
When I caught her in the act she was on the perch and was preening normally, then all of a sudden she started yanking at a feather and twisting her head and doing everything she could to yank it out. She does seem to molt normally, I have not really seen her retain feathers, but the wing feathers look awful, because of the way she mutilates them and of course they are completely stained with the blood. She still has access to her outside run, so I wouldn't think boredom would be that serious yet.
@Garden Peas didn't mean to sound snippy earlier, I was just in a rush getting out of here for the day
. @Bluecreekfarms I think I am going to get some blue kote and try it, can't hurt. She'll either have reddish-brown stained wings or blue-purple stained wings.
@casportpony I didn't realize Parrots did it, I will have to dig around on the internet and see what I can find. I knew they could pick them selves bald when stressed or unhappy, but my hen doesn't do that she goes after very specific feathers every year, which just seemed odd.
@Trefoil the ultra kibble is fed to boost the protein, it has 25.5% and the game bird has 24%, seemed high enough, plus they get a little hard cat food here and there.


Thanks everyone for the input! Next time I go to TSC I will look for a treat ball and get some blue kote and keep you posted.

 

[snowshoe]

Mindy, I have a 3 year old BSSP hen that does the same thing

 

[DylansMom]

Mindy, I have a 3 year old BSSP hen that does the same thing

Mine is an IBSP, just out of curiosity, where did you get her? We are so close and I know some of our birds have ancestors in common, I'm wondering if it could be a hereditary thing?

 

[Arbor]

I've had whites (both male and female) do this in the past. Only in winter, and never very severe.