What I am learning about feather picking and cannibalism

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Quote:
I tried my chickens on crumbles and found no difference in the picking. Can you give a reference for this "fact". I don't understand how this would increase the behavior.
 
My 3 roosters and 3 girls, started doing what you are talking about to my new girl i just got yesterday and i noticed her feathers on her back where there is a bald spot now was kind of white, like mites?

Ive talked to a few of my people, and they said might be mites but needs to be a topical external medication. im not sure what to buy for her because they were eating it off of her. and i want to bring her back to the way she was before i got her healthy. Can you or someone tell me what medicines i should get from the feed store. i heard about EPRINEX but if anyone else knows any others please let me know private message me ..thanks
 
My separated ladies are each laying an egg per day in the "holding" pen but the others left behind have slowed down.
I think because of the time change down here in the Southwest, the chickens are just adjusting to later sunrises and sunsets. It helps a lot that the weather has been just beautiful (70-80).
I just remind my hubby to make sure the rewaters them at lunchtime. As for the semibald ladies, I did notice it goes from just above the vent down and around to the bottom of the chest. I have checked for mites and no sign of them. I hope our problem is being solved with crumbles and I took out the feed pans so now they must scratch the floor of the coop for dinner.
I would like to thank everyone on this board for being amazingly helpfull!
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Quote:
I tried my chickens on crumbles and found no difference in the picking. Can you give a reference for this "fact". I don't understand how this would increase the behavior.

MoodyChicken - I did mention in one of my previous posts that I had read that.

gckiddhouse - I don't really understand either, but I ran across several references to it when researching feather picking/cannibalism. It seems some feel that by providing crumbles, the chickens spend more time "picking" through it than they do pellets. Like I said, I don't completely understand why it would matter either.

I just did a quick google for cannibalism and pellet feed and it pulled back several references. I initially read it in a study done by a university, but can't get my hands on it right now. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=cannibalism+and+pellet+feed&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=
 
Quote:
I tried my chickens on crumbles and found no difference in the picking. Can you give a reference for this "fact". I don't understand how this would increase the behavior.

I highly doubt it's really prevalent in backyard keepers like ourselves, but more relavent to intensive keeping. We were discussing this in my Animal Feeds and Nutrition class a while ago, and the only logical conclusion we came to is that they eat faster and become bored easier. It still doesn't seem to make much sense, but it apparently makes some chickens angry! lol. I feed pellets too, and I notice slightly more aggressive tendencies from the alpha females, but nothing out of the norm.
 
I just got my first chickens (4 black sex links) ever this past weekend and they came with this problem. I'm glad this thread is here, its given me more information on the subject. The first morning after they arrived in their new home I let them out into their run about an hour after sunrise and noticed new bloody spots on their vent areas. I observed them all day and not once did I see them pecking at each other. The next morning I let them out at sunrise and found no new bloody spots. Two mornings in a row I have let them out at sunrise and have not found evidence of pecking, so I'm hoping that is the key for now. I'm sure winter will be another story. I am going to try sunflower seeds, and adding more protein in their diet just in case. Maybe a new home and lifestyle will help them break it.

I have read about some users on here using Hot Pick. I am completely new to this, but won't that hurt the chickens? Hot peppers on sore/ bare skin? It sounds painful to me!

Also Has anyone heared of any kind of salve or spray I could put on their vent areas to aid in healing/ new feather growth?
 
I am not sure where you got hot peppers from but hot pick is made up of bitter tasting herbs, it does not hurt them and I can't imagine anything salve hurting much worse than having their feathers torn out and their skin raw and bloody.
I believe we talked about blue coate in this thread as well, which you apply over the raw area to seal it.
If you have not read through this thread you should, it discusses all the idea we came up with.
 
Blue cote will help hide any red in the area, and it's supposed to help with healing. Pine tar will also aid healing AND it apparently tastes so nasty that it will keep that area from being pecked. Nasty to work with, but I found it helped. My little peckers would wipe their mouths like crazy after getting a taste of it.

Give_Peeps_A_Chance - if this behavior is occurring in the coop in the mornings, try sprinkling their feed, some black oil sunflower seeds, raw veggies throughout the coop at night, after they are on the roost. Maybe waking up to something they can scratch for will keep them too busy to think about pecking each other until you let them out.
 
Sorry to be off topic for a minute.

Hi Penny, how have you been? I think about you from time to time, did you ever get more bees?
I got 10 hives this year, am picking up 3 nucs in New York tomorrow.
I have all kinds of chickens still running around and I just contracted with a farm who wants to buy every single one of my eggs for their CSA customers.
I had planned on doing a farmer's market this year but this is free instead of paying for a table.
I brought 30 dozen to the farm on saturday and they sold out in an hour and people were following me to my car to get my phone number so they could stop by for eggs.
Now my husband is finally happy that we have "too many" chickens.
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In fact he took me to pick up a dozen chicks today so we have more layers for next year.
I knew there had to be a way to get him on board.
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How many chickens are you up to now? You had the cutest little coop.
Okay, sorry for the thread interuption. Glad someone found this old thread and finds it useful, its good that you started it.
 

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