White Brama Loosing Neck Feathers

[AUChickenGal]

The assertion made by chickengeorge I do not support. Some of the rational you use to counter his statements are out on a limb.

My rationale is an M.S. in animal science, specifically equine nutrition. I too, have some knowledge of how NRC recommendations are formulated.

We can agree to disagree if you wish, but to call my statements "out on a limb" is a bit of an exaggeration.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Actually, animal feed is formulated to meet the nutritional requirements of the class and species for which it is labeled, based on current NRC guidelines, when fed as directed on the label (that last bit being the part where animal owners/managers most commonly err).

There are actually feed mills who are formulating and selling Organic, Vegetarian, wheat free, soy free, corn free, gluten free, and in the real scheme of things nutrient free chicken feed. Besides, my chickens are unable to read little less sabe the nutritional info on a sack of chicken feed. Tell me pray tell which government agency is responsible for mandating the Daily Nutritional Requirements of a flock of chickens. We don't even know Colonel Sanders' 11 Secret Herbs and Spices or what is really in a bottle of Coke-Cola or the proportions.

 

[centrarchid]

Do not eat vegan or gluten free pizza after having a meat or vegetation pizza. It is like orange juice followed by toothpaste. All that scares me when the organic formulations tend to be designed to be animal protein free.

 

[rooboo]

Hi, we have a flock of 9 hens and one rooster, the white brama rooster has recently started loosing his neck feathers.  We inspected and see parasites.  Could this be molting?  I do see new feathers starting in this area.  Any thoughts?

Wow,I realize that you asked a question a couple months ago, but it seems to have turned into a pissin match about everything except answering your question. I also have a problem with a certain group of BCMs hens that continually pluck the neck feathers out of the rooster. Unfortunately I don't have a clear cut answer for the behavior. I do NOT think it's a space issue like others have argued about here. If your birds are free ranging during the day and voluntarily returning to the coop at night to sleep, it doesn't make sense that they would willingly go in to the coop just to pluck each other. My situation is somewhat of a long drawn out episode that has failed to come to a conclusion over the last couple years. Here's how it went down. I originally purchased 4 bcms pullets from a local breeder. I then purchased a bcm rooster from another breeder from a completely different part of the country. The rooster I received showed up with an almost completely naked neck that the person said had been plucked by some of her hens. I introduced the rooster to my pullets, and once they got acquainted, the pullets continued to pluck his neck feathers as fast as they were growing back. I would watch the hens plucking his neck and he didn't seem to mind it at all. I then purchased 4 more pullets and a cockerel from a completely different blood line. I introduced the new birds to the group and they got along just fine, and the hens continued to pluck the older rooster, but didn't bother the younger cockerel. About six months later the old rooster died from gout. My lesson there was, the high calcium in the layer feed kills roosters. Since then I feed a generic feed ration without all the extra calcium, and free feed oyster shells. Anyway, by that time I had raised offspring from that group and had another young rooster that I added to the group. At that time I had two roosters with 8 hens and I thought the problem had corrected itself. For the next 8 months it seemed as if the neck picking had ended. Unfortunately one of the two roosters suddenly died for unknown reasons. It was possibly a heart attack because it was very hot weather at the time. That brings this scenario to the present, about 4 months with only one rooster with the 8 hens and I have a naked necked rooster again. My next move is likely to be, increasing the protein in the feed and add another rooster again. This sure has been puzzling because I have several other groups of birds and the bcms are the only ones that do the neck plucking. I suspect that when I originally got the first rooster with the neck already plucked, that the pullets learned that behavior, and have just continued with it. The bcm roosters that I have seem to be very relaxed and they never have shown any dislike while the hens are plucking their feathers. If I can work out a concrete solution to this problem I'll try to get that info out here. Or if you or someone else has solved it, I would be interested in hearing about it.
Thank you

 

[friedokra]

Based on the coop and run size, and using the highest SF per bird design factor, we reduced the flock to 6 hens and 1 rooster since we occassionally. Leave them in the run all day. Not sure if it was coincidence or not, but rooster's neck feathers came back. I actually think they were coming back prior to doing this. At any rate, our issue is solved. Good luck on your problem.