Today the bare patch on Dotty’s neck has got wider. She is also missing feathers around her head now and as well as from her bottom she is missing feathers under her wing. I feel so sorry for her, she is looking really tatty with lots of loose feathers around her bare neck and head.
Dotty’s worsening bare neck
Somehow the photo doesn’t show how bad she really looks.
Dotty’s bare neck
She has had more feathers plucked from her since yesterday and I am beginning to think that the anti-pecking spray really isn’t working. However I was discussing this with my sons girlfriend a few days ago and she suggested that if it’s the smell that is supposed to put them off and they have all been sprayed (which they have) then maybe they have just got used it. Maybe they therefore need to be sprayed one at a time.
I thought she could have a point as I have got used to the smell now too and the coop and nest box smell of it so they are surrounded by the smell. In desperation we sprayed Dotty again today and sprayed her neck with the blue spray as well, in an attempt to try anything just in case it works. I don’t hold out too much hope but feel that I have to try.
I feel so sorry for Dotty as she looks so shabby and has to put up with the smelly spray. I hate to keep doing this to her but can’t bare to see her getting gradually plucked.
Dotty after spraying
I really hope this stops the feather plucking because I don’t know what else I can do.
The plant in the pot behind Dotty is being stripped of it’s leaves by the girls. The two plants in pots have been in less than a week but I have decided to take them back out at the weekend to allow them to recover.
I found a shrub called dogwood at our local D.I.Y. store, which was reasonably priced and it says it is fast growing. It’s branches are quite upright so I think it may be able to withstand the girls. It has white blossoms in early summer and purple berries in late summer so I checked that it wasn’t poisonous to chickens before buying it. Planting it is another job for the weekend.
Dotty also climbed the ladder today for the first time.
Dotty’s first climb on the ladder
All the girls have now got used to the ladder. When I clean under it in the morning Bluebell jumps on to it so that she is on eye level with me.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Are you catching the girls actually pecking and pulling feathers?
Are new pin feathers coming in? I wonder if they are just going through their first molt and maybe doing a mini molt this first time around. One of my hens did this and was walking around w/ bare spots in the dead of winter. But new pin feathers came in quickly.
It’s not molt. We have seen Pepper pulling feathers from Dotty and Bluebells neck (mostly Dotty) and Bluebell pulling feathers from Pepper and Dotty’s bottom and occasionally Dotty pulling feathers from Pepper’s bottom. They all sit there and let the feathers be pulled. There are no pin feathers coming in so they will probably stay bare for a long time adding to my distress. I just don’t know what else I can do.
Hmmm, naughty hens. I know once they start something, breaking them of that habit is TOUGH. What about giving them something to scratch in. I’ve had great luck breaking up boredom with that. I’ll dump in a HUGE bag of raked up leaves, pine shavings, rice hulls, alfalfa, etc. in their run for them to scratch in. And you can spike it with some worms or seeds and that makes it even more interesting. The nice benefit of that is that it has made a nice organic barrier between them and the mud in their run. This summer, I’ll rake it all up and put it in the compost bin and start over in the fall.
I do worry about boredom which is why I have put in the ladder and new plants. I do put in stuff for them to scratch through but at the moment everything is so barren. We are having unusually freezing temperatures here (coldest March for fifty years) and some snow. There are no leaves to be had at all and when I dig for the girls there are no worms as they have gone so deep. The wood chip they scratch out onto the veg plot, I collect and dump back in for them scratch through but I have done it so much recently that there is nothing left. I am racking my brains trying to think of anything else I can do for them.
Can you make some peck blocks (http://henkeeper2.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/peck-blocks/) or string up a cabbage?
I have bought a peck block but it’s so hard that they can’t into it. I had to smash bits off of it with a hammer. I will try your recipe though.
I do give them alternately cabbage, apples and tomatoes to peck at and I put greens in the square bird food hangers for them to peck at too. Nothing last too long though. I find apples last the longest. One cut in half will last from lunch time to nearly bed time.