feather picking hen

One of my Salmon Faverolle hens has a serious feather picking problem. She's plucked the beard and neck feathers off of the other Faverolle hens and a few off of the Easter Eggers as well. I've tried putting her in chicken jail (a dog crate within the run) for anywhere between a couple days and some weeks, hoping that would break her of it. I've also tried giving her extra bugs and sunflower seeds, in case it's a lack of protein and/or methionine causing her to eat feathers. No change. I'm at a loss and she's back in chicken jail, which I hate and fear might actually make it worse. She does seem to be generally high strung and is the smallest of the hens. The most confusing thing of all is that the other hens make zero effort to stop her from doing it. They don't move away, peck her or even make a sound.

Any suggestions on how to get her to stop would be most welcome. Keeping her separated feels awful. Definitely not sustainable, either. I can't have her ripping out everyone else's face and neck feathers either though.

Hi Heather.  The last time I had a pecking problem like that I took the side cuts and trimmed her beak flat.  Another thing that seems to work is putting peanut butter on a picked on hens raw spots.  The dominant hen seems to go straight to it and then spend the rest of the day trying to get the peanut butter out of their nose.  If it keeps happening here the mean hen find themselves becoming chicken soup.

Hi Heather,
Are you certain it is only the one chicken doing the plucking? I recall reading that sometimes picking around the head and neck can be an attempt to help with lice or parasites, though I can't find the article now. But if that was the case I would expect more than just one chicken doing it for more than one chicken.

It sounds like you are ruling out nutritional deficiencies.

My only other thought with my limited experience would be boredom. Perhaps more scratch, more space, more things of interest... might distract her from picking the feathers?

Christopher Shepherd wrote:Hi Heather.  The last time I had a pecking problem like that I took the side cuts and trimmed her beak flat.  Another thing that seems to work is putting peanut butter on a picked on hens raw spots.  The dominant hen seems to go straight to it and then spend the rest of the day trying to get the peanut butter out of their nose.  If it keeps happening here the mean hen find themselves becoming chicken soup.

Hi Christopher. Thanks for the suggestions. The peanut butter one is particularly interesting. The visual I imagine certainly provided a much needed laugh. I keep warning her that I don't want her to be jerk chicken, though she probably knows I don't really have the heart to go that route.

Matt McSpadden wrote:Hi Heather,
Are you certain it is only the one chicken doing the plucking? I recall reading that sometimes picking around the head and neck can be an attempt to help with lice or parasites, though I can't find the article now. But if that was the case I would expect more than just one chicken doing it for more than one chicken.

It sounds like you are ruling out nutritional deficiencies.

My only other thought with my limited experience would be boredom. Perhaps more scratch, more space, more things of interest... might distract her from picking the feathers?

Hi Matt. I'm not one hundred percent, but fairly certain it's just the one hen. I didn't see any additional feather loss while she was in chicken jail and it got worse immediately upon her release. Notably, she's also the only one who has a full face of feathers, so no one is doing it to her. The parasite thing had occurred to me. The roosters (who are in the same coop and run, but separated due to a their being two of them and only six ladies) don't have this issue, so that also leads me to think it probably isn't parasites. I've looked for bugs, but must admit I haven't quite figured out how to see very well through all those feathers.

Boredom could be an issue. They are in an enclosed run due to lots of critters around. They have a compost pile to dig through, but more things to keep them entertained could only help.

I do wonder if this could be helped by the presence of a rooster. As I said, presently they are separated cause when they're both in there, it is too much for the girls. A friend has offered to take one and I'm hoping then I can let the other be in with the ladies. Does this seem like something a rooster could correct? I do worry that he might just join her in it, if he fancies her more though...Chicken social dynamics are confusing!

Look into a product called pinless peepers.  I had a hen that was attacking the legs of a couple of my birds and the options were jail, a stew pot, or pinless peepers.  I left them on for a couple weeks while the other chickens healed, and when I removed them, she seemed to have forgotten the behavior.  

I've integrated the better behaved of our two roosters in with the girls. He's doing wonderfully. The feather picker has been in there with them on and off. Interestingly, when I did see her picking feathers, the rooster didn't do anything. I think he saw her do it, but can't be sure. It just boggles my mind why the hens and now the rooster just allow her to do this. It seems like it would be painful.

Laurel Jones wrote:Look into a product called pinless peepers.  I had a hen that was attacking the legs of a couple of my birds and the options were jail, a stew pot, or pinless peepers.  I left them on for a couple weeks while the other chickens healed, and when I removed them, she seemed to have forgotten the behavior.

I'm glad they helped keep your other hens safe and reformed the bully! Did they seem like they caused any breathing issues? Or pain? Having plastic prongs in the nostrils sounds rough. Though certainly preferable to the other options you mentioned.

Heather Sharpe wrote:I've integrated the better behaved of our two roosters in with the girls. He's doing wonderfully. The feather picker has been in there with them on and off. Interestingly, when I did see her picking feathers, the rooster didn't do anything. I think he saw her do it, but can't be sure. It just boggles my mind why the hens and now the rooster just allow her to do this. It seems like it would be painful.

Laurel Jones wrote:Look into a product called pinless peepers.  I had a hen that was attacking the legs of a couple of my birds and the options were jail, a stew pot, or pinless peepers.  I left them on for a couple weeks while the other chickens healed, and when I removed them, she seemed to have forgotten the behavior.

I'm glad they helped keep your other hens safe and reformed the bully! Did they seem like they caused any breathing issues? Or pain? Having plastic prongs in the nostrils sounds rough. Though certainly preferable to the other options you mentioned.

I felt like a dick putting them on her, but they didn't seem to fit "tight" around her beak.  I couldn't tell you if the caused any breathing issues, but she survived.  You have to remember that the nostrils are on a hard surface, not soft and fleshy like ours.  Realistically, i figured whatever the pinless peepers put her through was less stressful than being alone in jail or being dead, she definitely didn't like being caught, touched, and having the peepers put on, but i couldn't tell you how much of that was not being able to look forward and being held versus wearing the peepers.  I can tell you that i do not intend to keep chickens without having a couple pairs of these on hand in my "emergency" box in addition to electrolytes, gentian violet, and vaseline.

Laurel Jones wrote:I felt like a dick putting them on her, but they didn't seem to fit "tight" around her beak.  I couldn't tell you if the caused any breathing issues, but she survived.  You have to remember that the nostrils are on a hard surface, not soft and fleshy like ours.  Realistically, i figured whatever the pinless peepers put her through was less stressful than being alone in jail or being dead, she definitely didn't like being caught, touched, and having the peepers put on, but i couldn't tell you how much of that was not being able to look forward and being held versus wearing the peepers.  I can tell you that i do not intend to keep chickens without having a couple pairs of these on hand in my "emergency" box in addition to electrolytes, gentian violet, and vaseline.

I can imagine putting them on would feel crappy. It really sounds like it was the best option and certainly less harmful than the alternatives. Thank you for sharing your experience with them!