Monday, May 24, 2010

Two in a bath




Daisy was enjoying a nice quiet dustbath when Gozzie arrived
 and shoved her out
She was not amused!

Have you noticed their new nose jobs?
I have fitted them all with anti pecking rings - as one or more of them keep plucking the feathers from the game birds necks!

Zola was next for the bath - you can see a video of her here 
She bathed for ages - about half a hour then just dozed in the sunshine.

The anti-pecking rings don't stop them doing anything they would normally do, except being able to pluck out feathers.  Once the girls feathers have grown back I will gradually remove the rings and hopefully the plucking will have stopped.
I have tried using sprays - very expensive and smelly ones at that - but as soon as the feathers grow back the plucking starts.

I saw Poppy doing it when the girls were sunbathing once - they didn't seem to mind - but you have to be careful in case it becomes a habit and their 'cannibal' nature 'kicks in' - then it becomes a serious problem.

It's the first time I have ever had a feather plucking problem amongst chickens - maybe it's just the Sebrights that do it - it's the first time I have had that breed

We shall see.

2 comments:

  1. If you have a picking problem you need to find out why...Maybe more calcium or try putting a tablespoon of apple cider vinger in their water for a few days and as a added bonus your water for your chickens will not turn green in warm weather.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a lot has been going on in your garden, it looks brilliant. You must be thrilled!

    ReplyDelete

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