Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Over the winter my chickens pecked each other and most have bald spots that I hope fill in once they are done molting. Yesterday I noticed one checked pulling feathers out if another one and eating it. How do I stop this. They get crumble organic layer, Blackoil sunflowers, lettuce / spinach daily. Plus oyster shells. Suggestions.

separate the one that's actively pulling the feathers and up everyone's protein-hard boiled egg or cat food....usually they eat feathers because they're lacking/craving protein.

Thanks. How long would you separate them?

at least a couple of weeks.....if she is pulling and eating her own at least she isn't damaging the other chickens....but if she doesn't quit then i would consider freezer camp. usually once they only have their own to eat it hurts to pull them so they don't-usually

Ok fingers crossed

Do you recommend wet cat food or dry?

i just feed dry.....it's cheaper LOL

Sometimes adding meat protein helps, other times not. I noticed a feather picking problem when I dropped protein levels too early, from 24% to 17% at six weeks. Only some of the chicks did this. All would eat a dropped feather but only some pulled the feathers out from th others.
Both the 24% and 17% feed did have meat protein, but afterwards I also added kibble to their diet. You don't want to overfeed it, I gave them what they could finish in one meal a couple of times a week. That was just a guess but too much protein isn't good either. I had to soak the kibble before my chickens would eat it but then they finish it with gusto. I ended up culling most of the feather pickers, they would run after their flock mates and actively pull the feathers out. Higher protein did not necessarily stop the behaviour once they learned it.

We do quite a bit of fishing, so stuff like suckers, sheephead, and carp get feed to the chickens. It is a cheap protein source if you have access to it.

I will keep an eye on everyone's to see if more protein helps. It will be hard to cull one of the girls