rooster booster pick-no-more

[cherylcohen]

I have a cuckoo maran and a wellsummer that have been pecked and I've been using this and sometimes in conjunction with neosporin to keep the MEANIE chickens away from them. They are missing back and mostly all their tail feathers

Does anyone know if the best way to deal with this, besides separating them is to put this on daily, or is every other day enough? How long does it need to be put on? Do the Meanie chickens "learn" not to peck? It can be 2-4 weeks for feathers to grow back in my experience, so I'm wondering if I need to put it on for that long?

 

[highcountrychickens]

I have a post on my byc page about this that is mostly tongue in cheek, but has a degree of seriousness -

I have used the RBPNM.. with a small degree of success, but my flock had an advanced case of picking, so it wasn't quite enough.

Practical advice: stop it fast - if they are doing it after establishing a pecking order, it's usually because something in the husbandry is not quite right, (edit: mine was also a case of quite neurotic individuals) Feed higher protein for a while, use lights, try the Rooster Booster products (they also have vit. b supplements and minerals you put in their water that I have had great success with - ) If you use the Pick No More... USE GLOVES if you have to touch it to apply it!! Otherwise your fingers will be purple for days.
I had to reapply it fairly often, but the capsaicin is there - works well.
If you can't get the picking to stop with these things, there are "pinless peepers" that you can get from poultry supply stores online. Everyone who uses them swears by them because they 'block' the front vision of the wearer, and they cant hone in on feathers. Amazingly (I used these too) it does not affect eating or drinking or laying or make them bump into things - just doesn't allow them to fixate. There is a BYCer here who uses them for 6 weeks (glues googly eyes on them, it's HYSTERICAL) and it seems to break the pattern.

Good luck!

 

[cherylcohen]

omg your page is a riot...added light yesterday, religiously lathering on pick no more...we'll see. the two pluckees have very bright red combs/wattles but to date have not laid an egg. Maybe they need therapy.

 

[highcountrychickens]

Keep me posted! I think that had I tried the Rooster Booster stuff a bit earlier, I might have had some better luck -

I'll try to find the post here with the guy who does the googly eyes on his pinless peepers... He is a true and complete sicko, and one of my heroes here on BYC-

Yes, therapy... can't you see them on a little chaise with their primaries knitted across their little chests lamenting about their lack of tail feathers, or strange taste for them stemming from a worm incident just out of the shell...?

aye carumba!