Chicken coops plans

Have you actually spotted them plucking? If not and you’re finding bald patches on them and they’re over a year old, they could be going through a moult. If they are plucking feathers from one another, this could be a sign of boredom. It is NOT a form of preening as one answerer has suggested. Feathers are not plucked when preening. They go through a moult to get rid of old feathers and generate new ones. A moult can take between 2-8weeks and you need do nothing about it, it’s just a phase hens go through once or twice a year.

You can try a number of things;

Gentian violet or purple spray (available at most livestock stores and online). Spray this on the red featherless areas of the hens. This tastes bad for them and removes the sight of red which seems to attract them.

Ukadex is a serious anti-pecking spray and smells absolutely disgusting but seems very successful at stopping feather pecking. This can also be bought online.

Install a dustbath. This helps the hens keep themselves clean and parasite free. You can create a dustbath by gathering dry soil mixed with sawdust and some anti mite/louse and flea powder in either a cat litter tray or a big plant pot. They usually go mad for a dustbath!

Check for parasites, you may need to treat your hens by squirting some anti parasite powder all over them ensuring it doesn’t just sit on the feathers but penetrates further down.

They could also be lacking in protein. Hens will sometime eat their own feathers as a source of protein. Check your feed for protein content and see if they are getting enough grubs when free-ranging. You can supplement their diet with scrambled egg or peanuts (go easy on these because of the fat content). You can feed hens egg as long as it’s presented to them in a way that they wouldn’t recognise it being or coming from an egg otherwise this will encourage egg breaking etc.

To stop the boredom hang up some greens for them to peck at or I also get some corn on the cob, chop each cob into 2, drive a wooden kebab skewer into them and then stick them in the ground in the pen for your girls to have a go at. Mine love these, it looks like they’re doing bag work like in boxing!

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