[robinson]

Our five girls were all bought back in august and the amber star otherwise known as parsley became the group leader.  She now appears to be pecking feathers from all of the other girls.  I have had my suspisions that something was not quite right as the lovely fluffy bottoms they had are no longer fluffy.  No one has a bald patch yet, but I caught her having a go at the others today and having asked the old boys, who have been keeping chickens for years, they are telling me to take her back and ask for a swap.

Advise would be appreciated, I wondered if I could section of part of the run for her and only let her back with the others for bed?  They are family pets, not just chickens but I dont want to loose all of them which is what they told me might happen if she gets a taste for blood and will gradually peck into them.

[SMD66]

yes remove her from the others.  She wont stop unless you do something.  If you keep her seperate in the day she might eventually break the habit.  Trouble is the feathers of the others probably wont grow back till they moult, which could be next yr now.

If you swap her then the newcomer will have a hard time fitting in and will get chased about something terrible for at least a week so it's not really advised.

Do they have plenty of room?  sometimes it happens if they are bored. 

[robinson]

They have 21m2 of run and when I am there, about an hour a day, i let them trash the rest of our plot, as we have very little planted at the moment.  When I am digging all five will to be on the fork to get the best of the worms.

I have put an outside perch for them so that they can see across the allotments and a sand pit full of wood chip for them to dig in (and we bury things in this for them to find)  The rest of the floor is now bare soil as they have eaten everything that was growing!  I hand lettuce/cabbage etc up for them to eat.

Any other suggestions of what to put in run to stop them being bored would be appreciated.

[SMD66]

sounds like you've got it covered!  It just happens sometimes that one decided to pluck feathers.  I would seperate them if it were me.

[grumpydad]

there are several posts about using something called ukadek to stop feather pecking, an anti peck spray. or you could try a little fish flavoured cat food as a protein supplement, if she is pecking to get the protein from the feathers.
gentian violet is good to hide any red as chucks are attracted to red as in blood.

martyn

[SarahJC]

We have an Amber Star too and she is a feather pecker. We've had her a year. Like you, ours are pets, but I nearly got to the stage where we were considering re-homing her. To cut a long story short, she wears a beak bit and it's worked. She originally had the oval type ones, but it wore her bottom beak away, so that in the end she could fully close her beak and start feather pecking again. We then put a 'bumper bit' on her, which is also used to stop egg eating, but she's a little thing and the end stuck out so far, that I couldn't see how she could eat. I nipped the end off and filed it smooth and she gets on just fine. I tried all the other ways of stopping it, sprays etc, but it didn't work. My bald bottomed girls are growing their feathers back, as they are moulting at the moment.

Hope my experience helps in some way.

[chickenlady]

My feather pecker is an amberlink too! i did have 2 that cost me £50 for the pair and they were already pecking when we got them, we figured it was just cause they were in such small cages and once we got them home they would be fine! sadly not! we rehomed the worst offender (thankyou grannie  ) as we knew she would benefit from a free range environment that we couldnt offer! we tried everything with the other girl! Roastie ended up with a beak ring which stopped her habit! she managed to get it off about a month ago but we have seen no feather pecking at all from her so think she may be cured for now!
recently i have had 2 barnevelders, a blue laced wyandotte and a gold laced wyandotte which are all growers (all similar feather patterns so think that is the reason?) all being feather plucked where their new feathers were coming through! I even lost one to it (poor girl  ) and now have to keep them seperate till their feathers are fully grown as the antipeck spray hasnt worked and they are too little for beak rings!

Debbie

[Alby]

Hi,
  Ive got 6 amberlinks and they all love to eat each others feathers !!  Got to a stage where one of my girls crops was getting bloodied so I sprayed them all with an anti peck spray and it worked GREAT 
     
 Bought it from Pets at Home £10 and enough to last for the next year. Give it a try before seperating ? worked for me .  Good luck

  Alby

[SarahJC]

I see a bit of a pattern forming here with regard to Amberlinks    Or maybe it's just coincidence that some of us forumers have the problem with them. Interesting though.

[Alby]

Amberlinks a renouned for Feather eating, and often take it further on to feather pecking 

  Alby

[joyfull]

If there is more than one amberlink they often form their own little gang and will bully others. I now only have one on her own and apart from stealing the dogs bisciuts (first soaking them and then returning when they are soft) she is a model hen  They appear to be highly intelligent and very very friendly.

[Brambles]

I think I have said before that I tried EVERYTHING... well except a 'bit' on Bertha's beak.   Neither sprays, cat food, toys, separating except at night... nothing worked.   THEN  I separated Bertha from the others permanently and now she is the happiest bunny, all the girls can see each other, but now there is no competeion with food, treats etc... which I think may have been the problem.

[robinson]

Thank you for all your replies.  I spent Saturday looking for spray, beak rings etc but to no available at all the local pet suppliers.

I would agree that she is a very clever hen and is very friendly to humans.  She follows me around the allotment and seems like the model type of hen but when I watched from afar she is so nasty.

I have seperated her now in a temporary section of the run, although it has taken 4 days to make it secure enough for her to not find a way out!!!

How long would you recommend the seperate enclosure? 

[SMD66]

try a few days and watch to see if she does it again

[jo40]

Hello
I was told feather peaking is a white chicken thing ?? My culprit is a white/splash maran, maybe there is something about white?
I found that separation didn't make any difference. You can get the beak bits online at the  domestic fowl trust, they are £1 for 8 and the postage is free. 
Jo