Feather eating chicken-help!

One of our hens is a Babcock (Babs) and we bought her last year. The past few months she's had feathers missing, mainly from the end of her back, near the tail. I tried using anti peck spray and even lavender essential oil to discourage the bullying/feather plucking. It didn't help. The other 3 hens in with her are fine.

Whilst I was outside today doing some DIY, I observed Babs eating a few feathers that the Speckledy (Esme) had shed. When she had run out of feathers, Babs strolled straight up to Esme and plucked a feather out of her and ate it!!

Any suggestions as to what I can do???

 

Hi Ros

This is hard to stop once it starts you may have to seperate her for a couple of weeks , check for lice 1st and dont feed any maize or corn use layers pellets instead , they may be bored as well so hang veg from strings to keep them occupied , is the bully hen bigger than the one she is pecking

Spruce

 

thanks for replying. Esme is a year older than the other 3 hens & normally won't take any rubbish from anyone. Babs just crept up on her & took her by surprise! I don't think there's any bullying going on, I just half assumed it because of Babs' loss of feathers. But it's clear now that she's doing it to herself.

They have an adlib feeder with layer pellets in and every few days (when I remember) they get a handful of mixed corn. They have a string that I hang a lettuce or apple etc up on about once a week. That keeps them busy for all of 5 mins!! They are on grass and get moved every day or 2, so they can scratch about and have dust/mud baths. I treat them all regularly for mites.

I don't know what else I can do.

 

Its stress like parrots pulling out feathers, you need to seperate her , how many do you have in the 1 run , any chance of letting them out when your in the garden , if you have seen the other hen pulling just the one out it will do it again, probably when you are not watching , I think you can buy a spray that tastes horrible that you can spray on.

Spruce

 

I've tried the spray, it doesnt work. theres 4 hens in a run big enough to house 6, so space isnt the issue. Don't have anywhere to house her seperately and our fences arent secure, so I can't let her out in the garden.

 

How big is their run? (as I'd have thought a run big enough for 6 hens wouldn't need moving quite so often) And how big (what variety) are your hens?

 

umm, the run is 8 or 10 feet long by just over 3 feet wide. the hens soon dig and poop it up, so I move them regularly. Varieties? one Babcock, one Speckledy, one Maran and one amber star.

 

It could be a sign of lack of protein....a friend of mine had this problem and was told to give them some catfood for a day or so....it worked for them....i've seen mine eat the odd feather that has been lying around but not pull them off each other.....

 

unfortunately it isn't just the odd feather. My chooks' diet hasnt changed, so I don't know if it's protein. I know its a no no, but I've always fed my chooks leftovers, including meat, but not poultry-obviously! here is the run they are in.





I took Babs out and immediately things changed! The others seemed to relax. They even became more friendly I had no idea how much Babs was upsetting the balance. She must have been doing it on the sly

I kept her in the cat box for a few hours whilst I found an experienced chicken keeper to take her (thank goodness for Pet Freecycle). I told her everything and she said she'll keep Babs seperate from her flock until the problem is sorted.

 

Aw that's a shame Randy but needs must i suppose

 

Just an after thought Randy....are your chooks able to free range at all....wondered if that might have done the trick

Sorry Randy just read back and you've already answered the question..

 

at least I know she's being looked after & the remaining 3 girls seem so much happier. The woman who took her has a paddock, so eventually Babs will be free range