Superchickens!!! (and their capes)

A month or so ago we started to notice that the chickens backs were looking strange. Then, we noticed that one was missing a little patch of feathers. Thus, we launched our investigation.

Chicken health books said it could possibly be mites, fleas or other feather eating bugs.
We checked with friends who said they might be pecking one another.
Nutrition only dictated they get extra protein to rebuild the feathers they were losing.

As per usual in this family, we attacked it from every angle.

For the bugs we bought special eco-friendly debugging spray, completely cleaned out the chicken house, scrubbed the walls and roosts, sprayed it down, rinsed it off, let it dry, sprinkled diatomaceous earth and then replaced the bedding with fresh straw.


For the potential pecking issue, we made the chickens who were suffering from it little chicken capes.

They are certainly not the easiest things to get on, but once they're on they do a very nice job of protecting the bald spot. Here's one of our Ameraucanas showing off her new wardrobe accessory.

They look like little super heroes...especially when they fly. haha.





Now that we've had some time to see how everything worked, we're pretty sure they were just pecking each other because we had a lot of snow and they were cooped up for much longer than they're used to. I'm starting to think they're becoming mean chickens from all this snow because a few more have gotten pecked. I'll keep you posted once the snow finally melts out of their grassy area.