Autodoor, 12V supply and power settings

[BadGardener]

I posted a few days ago about my new White Star, Hetty Feather, who laid three eggs in the first week we got her (they arrived 3 weeks ago) and hasn't laid since.

 

Well, since then she has started to lose a lot of feathers.

 

I've ruled out mites or lice. She is definitely not being bullied. She is 3rd out of 4 hens in the pecking order but the top two are fairly benevolent though in the first few days they were quite assertive. In fact, Hetty is now the only aggressive one - she chases poor Biscuits round and round for no apparent reason. I've seen no evidence the other hens are responsible.

 

So, the two possibilities would seem to be 1. pulling the feathers out herself caused by stress and 2. moulting.

 

I've found a few references to young hens doing a mini-moult. She's about 20 weeks old, I think. Does this sound likely? Could it be a mini-moult triggered by the stress of the move/flock issues? If so this would explain the long break from egg laying; I couldn't work out why a break from egg laying caused by the stress of the move would take 4 days to kick in and then last for so long. She mostly seems happy and is eating and drinking well, but she is keeping herself slightly apart from the other hens.

 

What do you reckon - stress-related self-harming, or a moult? I am just a bit surprised if it's a moult because my last lot didn't moult until their second autumn. She does seem a bit highly strung!

 

Thanks

[Sue]

Where is she losing her feathers from. If its around the tail it is likely to be pecking by at least one of the others, probably the one which is chasing her. White Stars are good layers, but like many commercial hybrids can be prone to pecking, sometimes a more laid back breed is easier to handle even if it means fewer eggs.

 

The pecking order does not mean top hen pecks everyone else. Top hen pecks hens numbers two and three, Number two hen pecks three and four, number three hen is being pecked by two, but only has number 4 to take out her frustrations on. Keep a close eye on the situation in case it deteriorates, as if blood is drawn it shows a lot on a white bird.

 

With luck it may settle down, if not maybe a bumper bit or spectacles would help. I have never needed to use these, but have heard they work well.

[sjp]

at 20 weeks she should be in the last stage of growing her adult feathers I've found with my pulletts that the ones that start to lay early tend to take a longer time to finnish feathering up but I carn't tell this year weather they were still moulting as I'd got 3 won a be droodies at the same time mouting

[Jenthelibrarian]

On the subject of chicken blinkers/spectacles/blinders the DEFRA 'Code of Recommedations For the Welfare of Livestock' includes:

 

Other forms of device fitted to

bird’s heads (such as spectacles, contact

lenses and nasal bits) may also cause

welfare problems and should not be used.

 

These are recommendations, so I assume such devices are not actually illegal but it does seem better to avoid them. No doubt it could be argued that fitting one chicken with a bit might save several other chickens from worse suffering, but I'd feel very uneasy about subjecting any bird to something that even DEFRA advises against.

 

I'd be interested to hear what other people think, and their experience with pecking and prevention.

[BadGardener]

Thanks very much everyone.

 

I'm 99% sure she's not being pecked. Re the chasing, she's the one that's doing the chasing, not the one that's being chased! I'm not ruling it out though, and am watching them closely and have purple spray in readiness! (Luckily the chicken she is chasing is quick and alert and seems like the type who can look after herself.)

 

I had a really good look at her last night and though there are a lot of feathers lying round the place, she doesn't have bald patches and definitely not around her bottom. It does seem that the feather loss has followed the standard moulting pattern of starting at the top and working down finally to wings and tail.

 

SJP that's interesting as she does seem to have been a very early starter with her first eggs.

[Sue]

Badgardener - perhaps she is a slow featherer then, I know they change their feathers three times before maturity, though you say she was already laying. I suppose there was no chance she had been laying for a while, in which case it would simply be her first moult.

 

Jenthelibrarian - A link to that part of the Defra site would be interesting, I can never find anything on their site .

 

I have never needed to use any preventative measures, preferring to keep the types of breeds which are not inclined to feather pecking. But I have read that feather pecking can be induced by stress, and also is a learned habit - so what will happen in the big commercial flocks when beak trimming is prohibited, which I have heard it will be. Apparently feather pecking can degenerate into cannablism if not checked.

[Jenthelibrarian]

Jenthelibrarian - A link to that part of the Defra site would be interesting, I can never find anything on their site .

 

It's in Section 11, which is on page 13 of this document [it's a PDF] You'll have to do a copy/paste, can't seem to make this work as a link, sorry!

 

http://www.defra.gov.uk/publications/files/pb7275meat-chickens-020717.pdf

 

It seems to suggest that blinkers are prohibited by law, and that bits should not be used. I don't know if this applies to 'backyard' hen-keepers, or even if it is current.

 

The regulations were pointed out to me when I first started to keep chickens and I was discussing welfare/law with a much more experienced small-scale hen keeper. He told me that, technically, it is illegal to feed waste food to hens. No doubt this means on a large scale, for example feeding restaurant kitchen s"Ooops, word censored!"s, not giving pet hens left over mashed spuds!

I believe it is also not legal to bury a dead hen in the garden.....

 

My concern at the time was to be very careful to get things right, mainly for the welfare of my chooks of course, and to avoid doing something illegal/wrong purely by mistake.

 

Any lawyers on this forum, please?

Edited September 24, 2012 by Guest

[Sue]

Thanks jenthelibrarian - I read through the info on the link, and although the link you gave refers to meat birds, the regulations concerning laying birds are the same

 

I was surprised as the bits and spectacles are so freely available, some commercial sites sell them by the thousand, even Omlet sells them at 15p each, but on reading carefully it appears it is those which "pierce the nasal septum", which were banned in 1982, (the nasal septum is the bit of cartilage which divides the nostrils. Most of the illustrations of show bit and specs which have rounded ends, presumably to prevent any damage to the nasal septum.

 

Perhaps in the past different designs were used, and it was those which were banned in The Welfare of Livestock (Prohibited Operations) Regulations 1982.

 

Interestingly it appears that from 2011 they increased the amount of space allowed per bird in barn system and now they can only have 9 birds per square meter.

[Egluntyne]

I have used bumpa bits occasionally, as it seems to me that victim is entitled to a bit of peace and quiet, and occasionally you do get a rogue hen who is a merciless bully. In the good old days, a farmer would have culled such a hen. I prefer the idea of using a bumpa bit myself.

 

Plenty of room to escape from the unwanted attention and a good diet also help.

 

The pdf file linked above appears to deal with commercially reared meat birds and not back yard laying hens.

[hopingforchickens]

My 3 original hens have bumpa bits due to feather pecking. They don't seem at all bothered by them. I'm hoping to give them chance to regrow the feathers and hopefully by then they will have broken the habit and I can take them off. As Egluntyne says I'd rather them have the respite than the constant pecking, it wasn't pleasant for any involved.