I have a two fold problem with feather picking.
Problem #1 is our silver laced polish roo is being torn up by our 6 RIR hens. They are all 10 months old. The hens have been plucking all of his tail feathers out. I trimmed all of his head feathers that blocked his vision thinking that he didn't see the girls approaching to pick at him. That helped for a while but now they are at it in full force. He has totally stopped crowing and spends most of his time in the coop. This has been going on for about 2 months and now they are tearing his flesh and he is bleeding because of the picking.
Problem #2 is 2 days ago I have noticed that 2 of the hens are missing a patch of feathers just below their vent. I did notice the others picking at them. They are all eating and otherwise appear healthy. They all gave me an egg a day through the winter. They have plenty of layena crumbles and water. I do give them 1/2 of a coffee can of scratch a day as a treat.
Any suggestions as to what might be causing this would be great-full.
Also after a little research I found Blu-kote wound dressing, Hot Pick and Pine Tar to treat the wounds. Which of these would best treat the problem? Or if something else may work better please let me know.
Thanks.
Rich
Problem #1 is our silver laced polish roo is being torn up by our 6 RIR hens. They are all 10 months old. The hens have been plucking all of his tail feathers out. I trimmed all of his head feathers that blocked his vision thinking that he didn't see the girls approaching to pick at him. That helped for a while but now they are at it in full force. He has totally stopped crowing and spends most of his time in the coop. This has been going on for about 2 months and now they are tearing his flesh and he is bleeding because of the picking.
Problem #2 is 2 days ago I have noticed that 2 of the hens are missing a patch of feathers just below their vent. I did notice the others picking at them. They are all eating and otherwise appear healthy. They all gave me an egg a day through the winter. They have plenty of layena crumbles and water. I do give them 1/2 of a coffee can of scratch a day as a treat.
Any suggestions as to what might be causing this would be great-full.
Also after a little research I found Blu-kote wound dressing, Hot Pick and Pine Tar to treat the wounds. Which of these would best treat the problem? Or if something else may work better please let me know.
Thanks.
Rich