How to seperate????

[HeatherTheMommy]

Thank you i will try to add some leave this weekend. I need to get more scratch because my husband used it all -_-. They have a wooden table we put in the run that they like to lay on or under for shade. One of my buff orpingtons seems to have some feather loss and i catch the others randomly picking at her and some others but the brahma looks bad. What else can i do for her wounds? I just ordered some bluekote and im going to try to seperate her tomorrow. Im worried about her vent now because its very exposed and irritated looking. Not sure if its from all the pecking or something else. Poor girl. How big should my run be? We have 12 hens including my silkie. I want to expand it but money is tight and im afraid to let them free range.

Scratch can be good for boredom, throw it in the run to give them stuff to scratch for, but you're right it can lower protein, I like keeping my hens on a grower or an all flock because it has higher protein, I also give mine some black oil sunflower seeds, I have had good luck doing deep litter in my run, we put grass clippings, fall leaves, garden produce, and I like bales of hay, they scratch around and eat the grasses and it encourages good bugs in the soil.

I would toss them food scraps in the run when you have them to keep them busy, I would put logs and perhaps some perches for them to get up on.

You are right about the rooster leaving messes with the pecking order, as well as roosters will break up hen fights. They are at a goofy age where they aren't mature mentally, in a normal flock there would be roosters and older hens to put them in their place. They should eventually calm down and maybe by then the hen that was pecked on can rejoin them, and if you can identify the leader in the pecking she could spend some time in jail to knock her down a bit on the pecking order.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It does sound more like a protein deficiency more than boredom, it starts with random feather picking and eating then quickly escalates, your hens are still quite young, they are growing and maturing as well as laying, it can quickly deplete them, feral chickens would seek out protein, yours are at your mercy, it can take two years for a hen to fully mature and fill out. I would up the protein, you can also offer things like cottage cheese, eggs, meal worms, tuna, and a ration with higher protein.

The bigger the run the better, you could try free ranging while you're around, and an hour before bedtime works good too as they will return to the coop at dusk.

A run can be expanded by using cheap fencing like snow fence or even chicken wire, you would just let them into the expanded part when you feel it's safe and they fall back to the more solid run for when you aren't around.

I free range everyday, some years I lose a couple, but to me it's worth it because I know chickens don't do well in confinement, it just depends how you want to keep them.

I use bluekote for all chicken wounds, you want to cover anything red, skin, bloodied parts so the birds aren't attracted to it, I will also turn my birds loose while the bluekote is wet so if they peck right away it tastes terrible, be careful you will have blue fingers, I find washing with dish soap and a scrub with a nail brush will remove it.

Follow your gut, and never leave a pecked on bird loose in the flock or they will kill it.

 

[HeatherTheMommy]

How often should i give them extra protein? I did notice a lot of these issues when my husband gave them scratch in their feed. I did give them some scrambled eggs the other day. Ill make more tomorrow.

 

[BeachMomma]

Right now since you are having issues, extra protein every day for the next few days. Since she is now bloodied, separate her until she's scabbed up and you have blukote. When she's ready to go back with the flock, put her in at night so there's less alertness. But keep watch the next morning for any bullies. You may still need to put the top hens in chicken jail for a day or 2 lol.

A bag of flock raiser crumbles will be around $15 at TS. It's great during molts, illness or if a flock has a rooster.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Good advice

 

[ChickenCanoe]

@oldhenlikesdogs and @BeachMomma are giving you excellent advice.

You've already figured it out. It started when you cut the protein of the layena to 13% by mixing it with scratch. Moreover essential amino acids like methionine and lysine (missing in scratch) were cut to extremely low levels.
My advice is don't get more scratch. It will take a little while to make up for lost time. While eggs are nutritious, they are also lower in protein than your chicken feed. Eggs are only 13% protein so don't waste your time with that. Give them a real animal protein punch with some fish or meat. I like to use canned mackerel because it is cheap and an excellent source of protein for chickens but tuna or any other canned or fresh fish will work.
A diet deficient in essential amino acids will cause them to seek out other protein sources, that's usually going to be feathers which are 93% protein. From there it turns into cannibalism. I lost 3 birds to cannibalism last year when I cut back from 18% to 16% protein too early while they were maturing. I thought I had a rat getting in and chewing on them till one evening I saw the other chickens snacking away on one chickens back. I added fishmeal to the feed raising it to 20% protein and the problem stopped.

As was mentioned, hay or straw in the run to give them something to scratch around in will help with boredom. A handful of crickets thrown into the coop will give them something to hunt.

 

[HeatherTheMommy]

How much tuna should i give 12 birds?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I eyeball it. Probably a large tuna can a day for a few days or a half a can of mackerel each day. Spread it out so they all get some.

Mackerel is about 1/2 or 1/3 the price of tuna per ounce so that's why I recommend it. It's just that many people have a can of tuna on hand but may not have mackerel.

I also use mackerel to bait traps for raccoons and opossums because of the price. No need wasting good tuna.

 

[HeatherTheMommy]

Okay I just dropped my daughter off to school so I'm going to stress my son in his carseat and head over to the couch and try to catch the wounded want to separate and then I will go out and give everybody some tuna as well as the injured bird in the crate and then when I pick my daughter up from school at noon I plan to stop at Tractor Supply and grab a new bag of starter food

 

[HeatherTheMommy]

Strap and coop. Sry talk to text has its own mind