I started a thread last week about my hens picking out and breaking off my alpha rooster's (Duke) tail feathers - making his quills bleed. They were relentless in this effort - and Duke did not seem to feel any pain, so he didn't stop it. I've spent the past several days researching this issue and although Duke did not act any differently than usual, I certainly learned it was something I needed to stop.
Many people told me that my hens must be lacking protein in their diet - so I upped that with fresh scrambled eggs, yogurt, cat food and anything else I could think of. Some recommended debeaking, and while I absolutely abhor the idea of that, it is something I decided to consider as a last resort measure.
As I continued to find research on this subject on the internet - and most of it was submitted by universities and/or through study results - I began to read several factors that I felt applied to my situation that could contribute to the reason this began in my flock.
I am going to document what I'm learning and how I'm dealing with it here - so that perhaps others going through it can learn from it, or perhaps even prevent feather picking and/or cannibalism in their flock. Let me state that I am no expert and I am only just beginning to put all this together and plan a method that I am very hopeful will end this issue in my flock. All of this is based solely on my flock and what I am learning. Unfortunately, I did not keep track of all the documentation and websites I found that reference what I'm learning, but a simple google search on "feather picking" and/or "cannibalism" will yield many, many pages on this subject if you prefer to research it yourself.
I should state that most of the studies and documentation I found focused on this issue of feather picking/cannibalism within commercial chicken operations. None the less, I found that many of the contributing factors they mentioned seemed to apply to my flock.
I've learned that feather picking and eating is typically a pre-cursor to cannibalism. I first noticed this happening in my flock a couple of weeks ago. Oddly enough, the only chicken this effected was my alpha rooster. It began with hens "grooming" Duke. They would clean up any left over food from his beak, and pick out little fluffy baby feathers as he began to molt. He would lay down and several hens would gather around him. They hens have always adored Duke and followed him around and fight to lay next to him. So they began preening him. I never thought much of it. Several of the studies I read said that feather picking usually starts when one chicken begins to molt and others begin picking out the old feathers. I believe this is where the issue with my flock started.
Before I knew it, the hens seemed to become obsessed with picking out/breaking off new feathers from Duke. They began to focus on his vent area as he was standing. The vent area is apparently a very popular area for this behavior - and it seems that when they are picking at the vent area, this is a huge warning that it may escalate into cannibalism. I don't know why - I just know that much of what I read stated this.
I also read a couple of studies that indicated tail picking/cannibalism seems to be more prevalent in some leghorns and in Mediterranean breeds - of which I have both. I have 23 chickens and the breeds I have are Silver Leghorns (6 hens), Phoenix (1 rooster, 4 hens), Golden Penciled Hamburgs (7 hens), White Faced Black Spanish (4 hens), and 1 Silver Gray Dorking (rooster - Duke).
It seems that once the tail picking/cannibalism is started by one or more chickens, it is then a learned behavior that others pick up. I noticed only 3 or 4 hens doing this to start, and it quickly escalated into almost all of them doing it.
The one factor that seemed most prevalent within my flock in all that I read was boredom. While we provide about 4 square feet per bird in the chicken yard, their yard has been decimated of anything living. There is no longer any grass and they are down to bare dirt. I provided them an abundance of fall leaves and sprinkled scratch through out the run over the leaves, and they busied themselves with that for hours - during which time I did not notice one chicken pecking at Duke's tail feathers. This really verified for me that the biggest issue was likely boredom. Also, in the evenings, I've been turning them outside in the yard to free range for a couple of hours - and have noticed there is no tail picking during that time. Again, it really verified for me that the chief issue is likely boredom.
While I have always been very afraid of letting my chickens free range, due to the many predators in this area, I have decided that I would prefer to lose one or two to predators than have them peck each other to death due to boredom.
I have also ordered some Hot Pick and Avia Charge 2000, both of which are purported to help stop pecking and picking. I should receive the order this week and will begin using them immediately.
So, right now, I am letting my chickens free range. When I receive the Hot Pick and Avia Charge 2000, I will begin using that as well. I am only two days into this, and so far the free ranging seems to be working. There has been no feather picking.
I'll continue to update this thread to document the results. I am really praying I can stop this feather picking - something that virtually everything I've read says is very difficult to accomplish, once it's begun.
Certainly flock management differs from person to person. I am *hopeful* that what I am doing will work for me. I have no idea if it will work for others. Just thought I'd try to document this whole ordeal as I live through it
Wish me luck!
Penny
ETA: Link to original thread
Many people told me that my hens must be lacking protein in their diet - so I upped that with fresh scrambled eggs, yogurt, cat food and anything else I could think of. Some recommended debeaking, and while I absolutely abhor the idea of that, it is something I decided to consider as a last resort measure.
As I continued to find research on this subject on the internet - and most of it was submitted by universities and/or through study results - I began to read several factors that I felt applied to my situation that could contribute to the reason this began in my flock.
I am going to document what I'm learning and how I'm dealing with it here - so that perhaps others going through it can learn from it, or perhaps even prevent feather picking and/or cannibalism in their flock. Let me state that I am no expert and I am only just beginning to put all this together and plan a method that I am very hopeful will end this issue in my flock. All of this is based solely on my flock and what I am learning. Unfortunately, I did not keep track of all the documentation and websites I found that reference what I'm learning, but a simple google search on "feather picking" and/or "cannibalism" will yield many, many pages on this subject if you prefer to research it yourself.
I should state that most of the studies and documentation I found focused on this issue of feather picking/cannibalism within commercial chicken operations. None the less, I found that many of the contributing factors they mentioned seemed to apply to my flock.
I've learned that feather picking and eating is typically a pre-cursor to cannibalism. I first noticed this happening in my flock a couple of weeks ago. Oddly enough, the only chicken this effected was my alpha rooster. It began with hens "grooming" Duke. They would clean up any left over food from his beak, and pick out little fluffy baby feathers as he began to molt. He would lay down and several hens would gather around him. They hens have always adored Duke and followed him around and fight to lay next to him. So they began preening him. I never thought much of it. Several of the studies I read said that feather picking usually starts when one chicken begins to molt and others begin picking out the old feathers. I believe this is where the issue with my flock started.
Before I knew it, the hens seemed to become obsessed with picking out/breaking off new feathers from Duke. They began to focus on his vent area as he was standing. The vent area is apparently a very popular area for this behavior - and it seems that when they are picking at the vent area, this is a huge warning that it may escalate into cannibalism. I don't know why - I just know that much of what I read stated this.
I also read a couple of studies that indicated tail picking/cannibalism seems to be more prevalent in some leghorns and in Mediterranean breeds - of which I have both. I have 23 chickens and the breeds I have are Silver Leghorns (6 hens), Phoenix (1 rooster, 4 hens), Golden Penciled Hamburgs (7 hens), White Faced Black Spanish (4 hens), and 1 Silver Gray Dorking (rooster - Duke).
It seems that once the tail picking/cannibalism is started by one or more chickens, it is then a learned behavior that others pick up. I noticed only 3 or 4 hens doing this to start, and it quickly escalated into almost all of them doing it.
The one factor that seemed most prevalent within my flock in all that I read was boredom. While we provide about 4 square feet per bird in the chicken yard, their yard has been decimated of anything living. There is no longer any grass and they are down to bare dirt. I provided them an abundance of fall leaves and sprinkled scratch through out the run over the leaves, and they busied themselves with that for hours - during which time I did not notice one chicken pecking at Duke's tail feathers. This really verified for me that the biggest issue was likely boredom. Also, in the evenings, I've been turning them outside in the yard to free range for a couple of hours - and have noticed there is no tail picking during that time. Again, it really verified for me that the chief issue is likely boredom.
While I have always been very afraid of letting my chickens free range, due to the many predators in this area, I have decided that I would prefer to lose one or two to predators than have them peck each other to death due to boredom.
I have also ordered some Hot Pick and Avia Charge 2000, both of which are purported to help stop pecking and picking. I should receive the order this week and will begin using them immediately.
So, right now, I am letting my chickens free range. When I receive the Hot Pick and Avia Charge 2000, I will begin using that as well. I am only two days into this, and so far the free ranging seems to be working. There has been no feather picking.
I'll continue to update this thread to document the results. I am really praying I can stop this feather picking - something that virtually everything I've read says is very difficult to accomplish, once it's begun.
Certainly flock management differs from person to person. I am *hopeful* that what I am doing will work for me. I have no idea if it will work for others. Just thought I'd try to document this whole ordeal as I live through it
Wish me luck!
Penny
ETA: Link to original thread
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