The Poultry Keeper

probbins2000 · Joined: 14 Oct 2005 Posts: 13 Location: Dartford, Kent

I have five chucks and one of the has been feather peaking the others. It soon became apparent which one as it was the only one that had her fluffy knickers in tact. I tried to separate her from the others but as soon as I put her back it was straight back to her old ways. Anyway, she was only 10mths old and a good layer so rather than a public execution I took her to a local free range farm and asked if they could adopt her even with her bad habits. The farmer said that one of the cocks would soon cure her of her bossy ways. So what I was wondering was how long will it take before the other girls fluffy bums will grow back if at all. It has been a few weeks now and they still have bums like baboons.

Peter

Lisa · Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 12:39 pm Post subject:

Can you see any hedgehog spikey looking things on their bald bits? It would be the new feathers coming through (they're covered in a protective sheath when they first come through). If so, that's a good sign...

If not, I can think of 2 other things:

First, could anyone else be pecking now? Sometimes these things become a habit.

If you've not seen any more pecking though then the second more likely option is they've stopped growing back. This can happen if the feathers are repeatedly pecked out. Its like the birds system stops wasting nutrients growing new feathers if they're not going to stay there.

One of my first birds was like that. She was horribly feather pecked and the back half of her (I exaggerate not) looked oven ready Crying or Very sad

Vet said they would grown back when she moulted, and they did (hormones involved in the moult trigger the feathers to grow again).

If they're not growing at all - depends how bad it is. If there is a lot of bear skin you might have to watch out for sunburn over the summer (I had to make sure she was in the shade ie covered run).

probbins2000 · Joined: 14 Oct 2005 Posts: 13 Location: Dartford, Kent

as far as i can tell none of the others are feather pecking.

No sign of hedgehog bottoms either so i guess i will have to wait until the next moult.

I have them covered since the bird flu scare so they have plenty of shade.

thanks for the advice