Topic of the Week - Feather Pecking/Eating

[Fontaine]

Thanks For the quote tip. Never too old to learn!

 

[picklestheduck]

I personally seperate the picked on bird and supplement with extra protein packed treats and make sure they gain their confidence and their feathers back before reintegrating. I also give the whole flock treats such as all the things people don’t want front the local butcher like the cow tongues, tails, livers, and hearts.

 

[Beaker99]

I'm glad this is a topic this week. I have two birds that are missing feathers on the back of the neck. Not sure why this is going on.
We did lose a sick bird (crop issue) last week. I assumed that was it.

 

[The Birb King]

Feather picking can be for a variety of reasons. The chickens dont have enough protein in their diet, they dont have enough space, they are just board, or some other things. I would recommend feeding more proteins such as mealworms or eggs. You also need to make sure your chickens have enough space because if not they can get frustrated and board and start picking on each other. You could also try adding some more stimulation in the coop such as hanging a head of lettuce for them to peck at. If the chickens just have some bald spots it should be ok and the feathers will grow back but if some of them are bleeding (enen just a tiny bit) they need to be separated immedietly and then put back when they heal. Hope this helps

 

[Hensintexas]

My flocks definitely do better all around with extra animal protein. They love their meal worms and soldier fly larva, but these are treats, and they don’t get them every day. I also give them what ever comes out of the fridge during the weekly clean-out. Vegetables, soup, leftover pot roast, pasta - all cut up and mixed together. They think it’s a feast! Anything even hinting it’s going bad either hits the garbage or compost pile.
The girls don’t pick at each other anymore, except for the occasional squabble over who wants what box to lay an egg in - or if poor Walter goes in the henhouse while the Cackle Sisters are busy . . . .

 

[thecatumbrella]

Very timely feature for me.

On Saturday, we rehomed our second sex-link due to feather plucking and eating. I can almost definitively say what caused it: stress, breed, and confinement.

Our Australorps and Golden Comets had been raised together as day old chicks, and lived peacefully for almost 6 months. I couldn't even tell you what the pecking order was. On December 2nd, one of the Australorp pullets decided she needed to guard the feeder from our remaining Golden Comet. Excessively. We immediately put out a secondary feeder, but the Comet resigned herself to foraging the Australorps' dropped scraps. We assumed it would sort itself out.

Two days later, the Comet was voraciously picking and eating feathers out everyone's behinds. She immediately got moved to the adjacent pen. We upped the protein and made sure she could eat in peace. Every evening, we would reintegrate and chaperone them before bed. The Comet would immediately go for their butt feathers. This continued over 5 days with no improvement. Rather than doing a long-term separation in the dead of winter, we rehomed her with a free-ranging acquaintance. If you've ever had a sex-link, you know that they're power layers with more critical nutrition needs. She spent probably 65% of her waking hours at the feeder. The food guarding Australorp interrupted that, and pecked at her head/comb/eye whenever she dared to try and feed herself. I'm sure this generated a lot of stress. As others have mentioned, feathers are very high protein. The Comet did what she needed to do to fuel those daily eggs.

Our first rehomed Comet pulled feathers in a different manner. Whenever the Australorps wanted to settle down during the day, she would come over and yank at whatever she could grab. It almost looked like a challenge, and it was CONSTANT. If the Australorps were up and about, she left them alone. And she never did it to her Comet sister. I don't know what to think about that situation, but she was rehomed to the same acquaintance. The behavior stopped immediately. In hindsight, we discovered she was a RIRxRIW cross, and likely had bullying in her blood. She never ate the feathers.

This was our experience. From reading through this thread, it's not uncommon to see sex-links (or production reds) as the offenders.

 

[The Birb King]

I have never really had this problem. It probably has something to do with boredom, not enough space, or lack of nutrition. My hens do lose a few feathers sometimes from roosters mating but it's nothing bad. I've been to farms before and seen chickens with very bald backs or their entire tails missing. If my birds got to that point I would seperate them or put hen saddles on them but luckily they haven't.