MissPug+Chooks Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 Hello, I posted a few weeks ago about a balding chicken. Luckily ( this is was inexperience panicking here! ) her underbelly feathers are growing back! However.... I have seen the newest member of the group Polly, pecking at this particular chicken and one half of her chest feathers are gone! The skin is smooth and intact and I just wondered...if this isnt a moult - will the feathers grow back...or is she mid moult? I have put some sudocreme on the skin to protect it and sooth it abit....do chickens moult in random patches? IF it is bullying (from what I have seen it is every now and then that Polly Plucks out a few feathers) what can I do to stop it? The look of bumpa bits scares me and they have such bad press! Thanks in advance for your help! xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweety Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 Hi, yes they will grow back. There are several products you can use to put them off feather plucking, such as Stockholm Tar, Nettex anti -plucking spray or the truly vile Ukadex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eggpodd Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 We have a pecking / bullying problem at the moment. Advice would be much appreciated! We have three hens, two have lost feathers on their lower backs and bums. The third hen has begun pecking severely, mostly on one of them, but to a lesser extent on the other. I have seperated the guilty hen, since after applying wound powder and anti-peck spray, she continued her assault on poor Dave. She seems to now have a pecking habit, which we are hoping will go away once the feathers grow back. How long might this take and what are the chances that naughty Tikka will stop pecking? Currently the living arrangements are not ideal, Dave and Bok are in the Eglu and run during the day whilst Tikka is out in the fenced off run with her own food and water and a cat carrier which has been pressed into service as a temporary nest. At night time we have put them all in together to roost as no pecking takes place over night, but we are considering keeping Tikka in the run with her cat carrier (which she likes). What do you all think about this? Thanks for any suggestions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissPug+Chooks Posted December 17, 2011 Author Share Posted December 17, 2011 It's horrible isn't it?! I have bought some meal worms in case there is a protein deficiency somewhere and as support for my girl to grow her feathers back. I am also going to buy some stockholm tar although not too happy about applying that! Would chicken jumpers help at all? The victim chicken is our little one legged one (fox attack survivor from last year) and although she is otherwise healthy ( BRIGHT red comb, chatty, eats, drinks, comes when called and laying) I am worried that: a) she is going be be cold because of lack of feathers (none on knickers and breast - she is always puffed up at the moment) and b) because she can't run around as much (she hops around for about 15mins and the lies on the floor for a rest) she can't warm her herself up that way. Will the chicken jumper allow the new feathers to at least have a chance at establishing? My OH thinks we ought to have her pts as she is being bullied by the youngest in the flock and although she is 'healthy' she does struggle to do much with one leg and now is constantly having feathers pecked out of her - not much of a life....I would hate to have her pts though because if we can avoid the feather pecking I think she would be ok! Any opinions? x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gongladosh Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 My OH thinks we ought to have her pts as she is being bullied by the youngest in the flock and although she is 'healthy' she does struggle to do much with one leg and now is constantly having feathers pecked out of her - not much of a life....I would hate to have her pts though because if we can avoid the feather pecking I think she would be ok! My take on it is this- if she's got a decent quality of life and is coping with her disability, then I'd do what I could to keep her comfortable. If she's struggling and unhappy, the only kind thing to do would be to have her PTS. Like I say though, if she's coping, you could try either putting her in with some really easy-going hens or segregate her from the bullies and have them all out together when you're there to supervise. I'd say she'll be OK with it as long as she's physically close to other hens. As for the plucked chest feathers, I once read about someone who suspected that on her hen, it was itchy caused by the feathers trying to grow back and the hen was plucking them out. She fixed the problem by vaselining her hen's baldy spot - within no time, feathers were growing back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissPug+Chooks Posted January 8, 2012 Author Share Posted January 8, 2012 Agreed, if I thought for a second that she was unhappy or struggling she'd be off to the vet in a shot! The feather pulling is still on going at the moment -.- I will vas everything and I hope that will also make it difficult and unpalatable for the other chicken trying to pull the feathers out! So frustrating! I don't want to get any more chooks until I have this problem sorted as I will not have her bullied! She is still laying and is happy so at the moment all good -even if she looks a bit skanky xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
