ive just caught my young cockerel pulling leg feathers from the hens and eating them, is there anything i can do to stop him as they are refusing to go on the perches as he makes a beeline for them and pulls out clumps from underneath, hes not pecking anywhere else just the fluffy leg feathers, we used to get feather pecking in the broilerbreeder flocks but never saw targetting a specific area on every hen and then eating it?
cockerel eating feathers
- Thread starter oldstaff
- Start date
chrismahon
Well-known member
That's a new one on me Oldstaff. Cockerels are normally protective of their hens so he clearly has a taste for them that needs to be broken. First be sure his diet contains enough protein -presumably he's eating the layers pellets same as the hens, which are at about 15%.
You can separate him for a period and see if that breaks the habit. If not consider fitting a Bumpa beak bit -if one is big enough to fit. Otherwise it's permanent separation. We had a cockerel that was normally kept separate (because he used to 'bother' the hens terribly in the morning) and was only allow to run with his hens when free ranging. He was in a pen a metre apart from them to stop him trying to get through the wire!
You can separate him for a period and see if that breaks the habit. If not consider fitting a Bumpa beak bit -if one is big enough to fit. Otherwise it's permanent separation. We had a cockerel that was normally kept separate (because he used to 'bother' the hens terribly in the morning) and was only allow to run with his hens when free ranging. He was in a pen a metre apart from them to stop him trying to get through the wire!
