[Caralou]

One of my new girls, Dolly, who is a little madame at the best of times, is now plucking at the other two girl's bottom feathers and eating them. Very worried about it and not sure what to do.

They have got entertainment in their run in the form of cd's and feeding balls with bells as well as now having a bigger run than they were in, yet she seems to be getting worse. The other two don't seem to care less and just strut off from her, but I obviously want to stop it happening. I've started to let them out of the run in the morning for an hour before I go to work to have an explore, but doesn't seem to be stopping her.

Help!?? 

[Vember]

What are you feeding them Caralou?

Sometimes they eat feathers as they are lacking protein.
Once they get in to these habits they can be hard to break
I think Rob tried some chicken specs but they kept falling off his girls?

Just found this post which mentions stockholm tar. It might be worth a go
The post I found by Foxy in there might be handy too

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=29568.msg353898#msg353898


Sarah

[Caralou]

They are on a mix of layers pellets and corn as well as kitchen scraps of veggies etc. I'll try poultry spice and am tempted by the tar - tad messy, but if it works i'll try anything!

They dn't seem to have sore bottoms, still a good covering of feathers so it isn't too bad at present.. !chickens specs! 

It would seem telling her it's the cooking pot if she doesn't stop isn't working 

Cara

[Aunt Sally]

They are on a mix of layers pellets and corn as well as kitchen scraps of veggies etc.

Feeding a mix of layers pellets and corn is, in my opinion, like giving children a mix of meat, veg and cakes.  Which will they choose to eat first ?

I've seen this mix in the feed suppliers and to my mind it has a predominance of corn.

Laying hens need layers pellets !  These are a balanced supply of nutrients and ideally should be their main supply of food.  Greens are a good additional feed and they are the only veg my chooks get.  The best greens for them is fresh grass but there's not much of this about at this time of year - young grass contains about 16% protein, the same as layers pellets.  Corn should only be fed in small amounts and late in the day, a half a handful per hen in the late afternoon to give them energy to stay warm overnight. 

Too many treats, kitchen scraps and corn can reduce the the nutritional value of their diet and may lead to problems in behaviour, egglaying and resistnce to infection.

[Caralou]

They are on a mix of layers pellets and corn as well as kitchen scraps of veggies etc.

Feeding a mix of layers pellets and corn is, in my opinion, like giving children a mix of meat, veg and cakes.  Which will they choose to eat first ?

I've seen this mix in the feed suppliers and to my mind it has a predominance of corn.

Laying hens need layers pellets !  These are a balanced supply of nutrients and ideally should be their main supply of food.  Greens are a good additional feed and they are the only veg my chooks get.  The best greens for them is fresh grass but there's not much of this about at this time of year - young grass contains about 16% protein, the same as layers pellets.  Corn should only be fed in small amounts and late in the day, a half a handful per hen in the late afternoon to give them energy to stay warm overnight. 

Too many treats, kitchen scraps and corn can reduce the the nutritional value of their diet and may lead to problems in behaviour, egglaying and resistnce to infection.

They get the layers in the morning and when I first get in at night another small handful on the ground to peck at and then some corn and scraps if I have any to pick at on the ground before bed time, majority of food is the pellets (i'd guess at a 85/15 balance). Mainly because the pellets were cheaper to buy in bulk from the farmer than anything else, but seems that it worked out well !!! They also have pellets in a bird feeder so that they can peck at them through the day to try to stop them pecking each other, although I only put that in this morning so I'll have to wait to see if it helps.

I'm having a tinternet search for cheapest store for poultry spice etc and will give it a go. I'll also be able to let them out properly all day tomorrow which should help (provided the kitten stops trying to play with them - she keeps getting pecked, but going back for more!).

Typically it's the madame that's doing it so I just wonder if perhaps she's sorting the "pecking order" pardon the pun and making sure the other two know she's top chook? Hopefully bigger coop, and a few days free ranging and a bit of spice will help 

[Aunt Sally]

I'm not quite sure why the chicken spice might help to stop pecking 

They should have pellets available all day long so just full a big feeder and leave it with them all day.  If they peck pellets from the ground the must be hungry    mine would just turn their beaks up at them and beg for something better

The "top" chook who is doing the pecking is, I assume the one that's laying.  It would be good to see a good picture of her as I suspect she is older than the other two and therefore considers herself the boss.

Feather pecking is not always an agressive act.  It can start as a grooming behaviour and then may become a habbit.  Some people spray the feathers with teatree - the kind you can get for cats and dogs.  It makes the feathers taste bad, but is not so drastic as stockholm tar !

[poultrygeist]

Hi cara.

I'm trying al sorts and am currently on the tar method. Too early to tell if it's had a good effect yet.

A full, fresh cabbage hung up slightly above head height will keep them busy for a day or three. In theory, if they get bored they'll go for the cabbage but I found while one was pecking at that, another would go to work on her bum 
I can see that the specs would work but I couldn't get them to stay put and I'm not sure how kind they are to their nostrils.
I'd give your current method a few days and if not, overload them with stimulation, including a small amount of cat food late on and see if you can nip it in the bud.
Good luck. Let us know if anything works. 

Rob

[mrs.ploppy]

I currently have a Bluebell who is sysematically working her way through plucking everyones bums at the moment.  She is in with Merans, Orpingtons, Light Sussex and a Meran cock, all of which let her happily pluck bum and neck feathers off them!  They do not tell her off and she is defo not top hen.  It gets so anoying and I have tried all things appart from the tar on the bum method.  Once they get fixated it is a hard habbit to break.  If she wasn't such a good layer I  would swop her with one of my friends birds for a while to see if a new environment will change her tune.  Let you know how I get on.

[trinacooke]

I am having this problem now aswell!! I posted a little while ago about 'Sage' my mogrel hen bleeding on her foot and it looked like she had broken a feather on her foot it healed then happened again which I thought strange. Then My Bluebelles bottom was getting a bit bare - yeasterday when I went to put them in for the night there was blood everywhere and bluebelle was bleeding from her bottom (skin) and I have just checked Sage and she is bleeding too from her bottom skin!!!!!!!!!!!!!  .

It is my second Black Rock 'Parsley' I am mortifyed and have seperated her to 'The rabbit Hutch' !

I phoned the place that I purchesed the chickens from and the lady has told me to go over and get some Gentian Violet spray and maybe Anti Peck spray (for cage birds) will help - but it is a really hard habbit to break.

I told her what I feed and she said they are getting all the right stuff ie layers pellets then veg trimmings/grass in the afternoon and a small handful of corn at night. they have a large run and coop.

I will try this but Parsley will have to be permantly removed or put down if this continues .... has any body got any other suggestions before I take this drastic action as I want to cover all avenues first!

Trina

[poultrygeist]

I've been reading a bit about it and it can be caused by a lack of proteins of certain types. They miss the insects/worms/grubs they would get by free-ranging and can turn to feather eating to repalce it.
If grubs can be found it may ease the situation. I may go on a worm hunt shortly and try it out but it does seem to become a habit rather than a necessity.

Rob

[mrs.ploppy]

I'm starting to wonder if it is the time of year or the weather that may trigger this behaviour as untill a week ago my bird was not displaying this.  As for protein laking in thier diet, mine get mostly layers pellets of a high protein value and every other day I dig over thier area (as no grass left only dirt) and they get hundreds of worms and grubs.  As I dig my Bluebelle eats a few bum feathers then goes in for the worms!  you have to laugh as its soooo frustrating.  They get spice on the feed too and Battles in water.  I think with some birds you just can't win.

[poultrygeist]

I reckon this calls for some European cash for a major research project.

About half a million should be enough. For the initial study. Then the other 5 million can cover the next 6 months.

Rob

[mrs.ploppy]

Ok Rob

We can start it off and go halves.  May need more funding as this one will run and run I think!

[Big Jen]

Ive got a couple starting doing it as well. Must be the weather!! I have had to separate them all. Got I in the greenhouse and one in the spare room in a dog cage.
I bought a lovely little silver dutch pullet from a top breeder to show and she now has no feathers round her neck or on her chest.
BJ

[mrs.ploppy]

I think, in all seriousness, it is the time of year.  They seem to have spring fever!  All hyped up with the longer days and this triggers something in them.  Mine seem to be very hungry at the moment and making up for the winter months and I'm hoping with the better weather that they will eventually settle down again.  Either that or I stop being a vege after 20 yrs and start eating chicken again!   The eggs are getting bigger as the weeks go on too so they may be laking in something, one theary, or they need more food to compensate for the upped production all of a sudden.  If they cannot fill on food they will fill up on feathers.  They are after all made up of keratin which is what hair, nails, feathers are made of.  Must have some dietry/nutritional content.  My dogs love all the hoof trimming from my horses so it may even taste nice to them, thus perpetuating the habbit, (maybe?)