# Why Do Chickens Eat Thier Feathers?



## Meerkat

Are they missing something in their food ? I notice mine eat their feathers.


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## GaryS

Are they actually eating the feathers, or are they picking at the feathers of other birds?

My dad raised hundreds of chickens every year and when they began picking at other birds, he put some meat in their diet. It worked in that case, but I don't know if your situation is the same.


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## Meerkat

GaryS said:


> Are they actually eating the feathers, or are they picking at the feathers of other birds?
> 
> My dad raised hundreds of chickens every year and when they began picking at other birds, he put some meat in their diet. It worked in that case, but I don't know if your situation is the same.


 No they are eating their feathers.The ones that were pecking the others are now in hen prison,in their own cells .But this is foolish and more work to keep them.It means going in and out of 4 pens instead of just one.I call these chickens 'dog food'because soon as I can handle him killing them they are going to the dogs.All anti-socialbles need to go!
I guess they do need more meat,but I also won't feed them chicken or eggs,I know most do but i have a problem with it.
Igive them fish,beef though but may need to give them more.Especially now that bugs are scarce.


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## Emerald

When they begin to moult they need more protein in their diets.. they will eat the spent feathers for the protein in them.. I often double their scratch feeds/whole corn when they moult.. some folks feed cheap cat food. or if you can afford it try the higher protein game bird food.. it has about 24 to 25 % protein compared to layer mix which is usually around 16%.


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## Meerkat

Emerald said:


> When they begin to moult they need more protein in their diets.. they will eat the spent feathers for the protein in them.. I often double their scratch feeds/whole corn when they moult.. some folks feed cheap cat food. or if you can afford it try the higher protein game bird food.. it has about 24 to 25 % protein compared to layer mix which is usually around 16%.


 I think you may have it ,his is probably the reason.I was giving all my chickens wid game and duck food 'Dumors' then they stopped selling it in larger bags so we went to local who makes their own.I like them making their own but wonder where they get the ingrediantes from, china maybe,don't know?
Also we never give the peeps or grown birds any antibiotics or medicated feed so this lessens our choices too.
I will have to give them some fish and beef. They get plenty of scratch now that its cooler out.Also have oyster shells and pellet rock available anytime they want it.


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## Davarm

Meerkat said:


> Are they missing something in their food ? I notice mine eat their feathers.


It may have some significance to those who know more than I do, in my experience chickens will eat anything for no other reason that somehing is within pecking range.


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## goatlady

Sounds as if they need a bit more protein in their diet. Are they still laying? They need 17% protein to form eggs. Out here the only feed that is medicated is the Chick Starter and there is Non-medicated starter also. No medication in laying pellets/mash/crumbles and certainly none in straight grains like corn or the corn, barley, oat mix with a bit of molassas in it which is what I supplement my free rangers with. Not that much protein in scratch so I've never fed that to any of my chickens, turkeys, geese, etc.


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## The_Blob

goatlady said:


> Sounds as if they need a bit more protein in their diet. Are they still laying? They need 17% protein to form eggs. Out here the only feed that is medicated is the Chick Starter and there is Non-medicated starter also. No medication in laying pellets/mash/crumbles and certainly none in straight grains like corn or the corn, barley, oat mix with a bit of molassas in it which is what I supplement my free rangers with. Not that much protein in scratch so I've never fed that to any of my chickens, turkeys, geese, etc.


the protein in corn today is comparable to the low-mid range of 'high protein' samples in this study (based on nitrogen used as fertilizer) http://jn.nutrition.org/content/51/4/623.full.pdf

still not adequate for laying or quality meat production, but surprising


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## VUnder

Meerkat said:


> Are they missing something in their food ? I notice mine eat their feathers.


Are they missing food in general? Any chance of dying from the "missed meal colic"?


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## Meerkat

Davarm said:


> It may have some significance to those who know more than I do, in my experience chickens will eat anything for no other reason that somehing is within pecking range.


 Yea including each other from what I've heard .:wave:


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## Meerkat

VUnder said:


> Are they missing food in general? Any chance of dying from the "missed meal colic"?


 Their appetite is great.They a good and look good too.They stay clean and energetic.:2thumb:


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## goatlady

My bags of cracked corn say 7% protein and the bags of All Grain say 8% protein. I mix those 50/50 which to me then gives 15% and I figure what the hens free range all day must equal 2%. My girls always have been consistent layers on the above diet, so it seems to work well for me. First thing out the hens hit the compost pile, then on to the goat barn, then to the woods, then to the pasture, around the house in the yard and back to the coop by evening.


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## goshengirl

Wouldn't that become 7.5% protein? 

I enjoyed reading about their 'routine.'


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## goatlady

I "think" the protein percentage is per pound (serving), so if I mix a pound of each, doesn't that contain both percentages for a total of 15%? Whatever, it keeps my hens laying just about year round both in Western SD and here in northcentral Arkansas for 20+ years I have been feeding that ratio.


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## Jason

We've had chickens for a couple years now and I've never noticed them eating their feathers.We lock them up at night to protect them from predators but they roam free durng the day. We feed them a layer mash and oyster shells, as well as some scratch grains. They get all all the bugs they want but as winter sets in that will stop. I'll have to watch for that.


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## Meerkat

Jason said:


> We've had chickens for a couple years now and I've never noticed them eating their feathers.We lock them up at night to protect them from predators but they roam free durng the day. We feed them a layer mash and oyster shells, as well as some scratch grains. They get all all the bugs they want but as winter sets in that will stop. I'll have to watch for that.


 We feed them kitchen scraps too .So its likely the protein they are missing.
:dunno:


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## snowbound

We recently had to get rid of a chicken that became cannibalistic. It literally chewed two of the others to the bone. A neighbor took it and it did the same to her chickens. She has de-beaked it and it will probably go in the pot. This happened in a matter of a couple of days. I think it was a learned behavior from their previous home as we rescued them from very bad conditions. They were just getting fat and began laying again when this chicken became aggressive. The remaing girls are recovering and still laying nice eggs everyday. They are amazing critters.


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## Greybeard

Goatlady... Only way the chickens get 15% protein like you said with your 50/50 mix is if they eat twice as much. 1lb of 7% and 1lb of 8%= 2lbs of 7 1/2%.


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## airdrop

As you discribed it it sounds like they are getting canabilistic ,I know they trim off the beaks of pheasants to stop the pecking problems. It may be over crowding ,a little web search should tell you more.


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## TheAnt

Greybeard said:


> Goatlady... Only way the chickens get 15% protein like you said with your 50/50 mix is if they eat twice as much. 1lb of 7% and 1lb of 8%= 2lbs of 7 1/2%.


Hehe, I had to laugh at Goatladys post and your as well... even if they eat twice as much their only getting 7.5%!!

Its simple math. The only way to increase the percentage of protein to 15%would be to mix (at a ratio of 50/50) the 8% feed with something that has 22% protein. You could also add 100% protein at a lower ratio... but mixing two feeds with less than 15% protein will never get you 15% protein no matter how much of it they eat.

I dont mean to be rude but I almost fell out of my chair laughing... simple oversight im sure. :kiss:


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## The_Blob

TheAnt said:


> Hehe, I had to laugh at Goatladys post and your as well... even if they eat twice as much their only getting 7.5%!!
> 
> Its simple math. The only way to increase the percentage of protein to 15%would be to mix (at a ratio of 50/50) the 8% feed with something that has 22% protein. You could also add 100% protein at a lower ratio... but mixing two feeds with less than 15% protein will never get you 15% protein no matter how much of it they eat.
> 
> I dont mean to be rude but I almost fell out of my chair laughing... simple oversight im sure. :kiss:


... actually, their *reasoning* is sound, if not their mathematics... :kiss:

7.5% protein of a x-calorie diet is equal to y grams, doubling the amount eaten would still be a 7.5% protein mix, but the *amount* of protein would be double (as would everything else in the feed)

If a chicken eats 100g (little less than 4oz) of feed at 7.5% that's 7.5g protein
200g of the same feed is 15g protein which would be the same amount in 100g of a 15% protein mix

All that extra food is going to make larger, fatter (tastier   ) chickens, and larger poopies!  The extra energy from the less nutritious diet will probably be offset by the extra non-muscle mass, unless they get more opportunities to exercise/run around.

I guess it comes down to which method is cheaper for you to do.

This ignores the bugs & whatnot from free-ranging which are VERY high in protein (100 grams of cricket contains: 121 calories, 13.9 grams of protein, 4.5 g. of fat, 5.1 g. of carbohydrates, 75.8 mg. calcium, 185.3 mg. of phosphorous, 9.5 mg. of iron, 0.36 mg. of thiamin, 1.09 mg. of riboflavin, and 3.10 mg. of niacin.

Compare this with ground beef, which, although it contains more protein (23.5 g.), also has 312 calories and a whopping 21.2 grams of fat!).


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## TheAnt

The_Blob said:


> ... actually, their *reasoning* is sound, if not their mathematics... :kiss:
> 
> 7.5% protein of a x-calorie diet is equal to y grams, doubling the amount eaten would still be a 7.5% protein mix, but the *amount* of protein would be double (as would everything else in the feed)
> 
> If a chicken eats 100g (little less than 4oz) of feed at 7.5% that's 7.5g protein
> 200g of the same feed is 15g protein which would be the same amount in 100g of a 15% protein mix
> 
> All that extra food is going to make larger, fatter (tastier   ) chickens, and larger poopies!  The extra energy from the less nutritious diet will probably be offset by the extra non-muscle mass, unless they get more opportunities to exercise/run around.
> 
> I guess it comes down to which method is cheaper for you to do.
> 
> This ignores the bugs & whatnot from free-ranging which are VERY high in protein (100 grams of cricket contains: 121 calories, 13.9 grams of protein, 4.5 g. of fat, 5.1 g. of carbohydrates, 75.8 mg. calcium, 185.3 mg. of phosphorous, 9.5 mg. of iron, 0.36 mg. of thiamin, 1.09 mg. of riboflavin, and 3.10 mg. of niacin.
> 
> Compare this with ground beef, which, although it contains more protein (23.5 g.), also has 312 calories and a whopping 21.2 grams of fat!).


Stop that Blob, you are making me hungry for crickets!! :lolsmash::lolsmash::lolsmash:


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## The_Blob

TheAnt said:


> Stop that Blob, you are making me hungry for crickets!! :lolsmash::lolsmash::lolsmash:


VWG (Vital Wheat Gluten) is 75+% protein! :2thumb: ... unless you have Celiac Disease 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_gluten_(food)


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## BillM

*I had no idea !*



Greybeard said:


> Goatlady... Only way the chickens get 15% protein like you said with your 50/50 mix is if they eat twice as much. 1lb of 7% and 1lb of 8%= 2lbs of 7 1/2%.


I had no idea that chickens could do that kind of math !

I did see a "Danceing chicken" once at a road side amusement park.

You put a nickle in the slot and music would start to play and the chicken would dance for about a miniute.

I found out later that the dance floor was actually a hot plate that was turned on when the nickle started the music !


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## Davarm

BillM said:


> I had no idea that chickens could do that kind of math !
> 
> I did see a "Danceing chicken" once at a road side amusement park.
> 
> You put a nickle in the slot and music would start to play and the chicken would dance for about a miniute.
> 
> I found out later that the dance floor was actually a hot plate that was turned on when the nickle started the music !


Ive heard about the dancen chicken and always wondered how they did that, have any idea how they get the chickens to play tic-tac-toe at the county fairs?


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## jjwilson72000

If changing food doesn't help it could be a matter of boredom or overcrowding.

When our flock isn't able to free range for a few days because of the weather they will start exhibiting stress type behavior such as eating their feathers, pecking each other, pecking an egg, etc.

An easy fix is to throw some different crap in the coop. A block of wood, a red ball, one time we threw a couple small hay bales in there. They spent about a week pecking them apart and had a great time. In my experience if they get too bored (especially if overcrowded) they will misbehave.


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## dawnwinds58

I raise Rat Terriers right beside my chicken yard. The get a high protein/high fat small piece dog ration. When the dogs are fed, a half a coffee can of the ration is given to the chickens. They usually are climbing the fence waiting for it when I get to them. No one pecks anyone else and they are happy campers. The feathers line their nests like a soft down bed. They don't seem to be interested in eating the. I also made a wire ball on a chain in which I will hang a quartered cabbage occasionally. It swings so they can't get tangled in it, but they peck the daylights out of that cabbage. 

Happy birds, happy egg collector!! :woohoo:


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## dunappy

When I raised show chickens way back in 4-h horse meat was still available in Alpo cans. That really was one of the best things to feed the chickens to help them with their feather growth and shine.


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