Um. Putting the duct tape on the hen's featherless back was not such a grand idea after all. A few days ago it finally got loose enough so that I could pull it the rest of the way off. Underneath the tape, most of the feathers had not grown back.
So, the question is...why? Did I implement it wrong? Did the feathers not grow right because the hen wasn't able to pick them out or preen? People who are familiar with birds and their feathers might know about how the feathers grow out encased in sort of a shell. I don't know the terms for these things, but the bird picks away the shell and preens the feather so that it fans out. I assume that chickens do that, too.
Or, maybe I went a little overboard with the tape and made it stick on too long. Or, maybe it stuck to the skin and somehow prevented the feather from growing out. Maybe I should have doubled the tape over so that it wasn't sticky right over the bare spot and so that it would only stick for a little while to the sides.
I checked the blog of the reader who put the duct tape on her own chicken, but I didn't find an update, so I don't know if it worked for her.
Well, another lesson half learned.
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2 comments:
I never heard of using duct tape. Our hens go through phases where they lose a bunch of feathers and then they all grow back. Kinda weird looking, but I never worried about it.
I think what you're describing is molting? What is happening to our hens is that the roosters are a bit too amorous and they scratch the feathers off the hens' backs. It looks very painful, but maybe I'm worrying about it too much. It must be normal.
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