Recent content by ElizaMay

Avian flu is going around, sadly. I must check your other thread you may be already aware.

I was wondering if she was trying to get broodies to hatch fertile eggs or not, too, and eventually the question was answered by the OP. Some posters are fairly new, and don't always include the pertinent details, but people here are often anxious to help and don't necessarily get those details...

A little self-stimulation, it sounds like.

We havd HPN1 in western Nova Scotia, they just culled 12000 turkeys at a farm. Restrictions are in place for commercial operations within 10 kilometres of the affected barn to prevent the virus from spreading https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6339576 It's so weird, last month we had...

But don't they dye them by injecting food colouring into the shell before they hatch so they come out coloured? I think that would be highly objectionable. But with a mature bird, provided it did not stress the bird then maaaaaybeee.

Anxiety would be my guess too.

Well their not really 'just being hens' - that would be being broody and hatching them after there were a certain number in a nest. Eating their potential offspring before they hatch is a terrible habit, that once they learn can be detrimental and catchy, because as we know hens aren't stupid -...

Pictures please!

She was getting ticked - so you were on the right track. But but as long as your soft heart stops short and keepd you from committing to correcting her behaviour, you are only strengthening her resolve. You know this. So YOU decide what you want, spoiled prima donna that you coddle while she...

As was mentioned by another, clip some of their primary flight feathers. Leave enough that they can get up and down from perches in the coop safely and have some cushion, but not get the lift to get up on the roof. You may need to add an extra lower perch in the coop if there isn't already one...

That may work for the majority of birds, and I agree that a good jolt should work. In this case, HeatherKellyP said that, 'Whenever I peck back at my hen, it makes her even more aggressive and I think she'll go on forever,' and, 'Maybe repetitively pecking back as long as she'll go will work...

I have seen people use clear totes for soaking, with a hole cut for the bird's head through the lid (the lid is taped around the hole to dull the edges), or you can put on sponge pipe insulation around the hole edge using the slit, and tape that in place.

If you know she doesn't like it, that is the perfect discouragement for bad behavior! :)

If you don't want to peck and risk injury, then hold her down with her head down on the ground and jerk on a neck feather or two, and keep her there despite the struggle until she lays still and gives in. Worst that can happen is a couple feathers may come out.

Done that with a rooster in front of the hens, he did not try to earn a second go-tound.