advice on my blue cochin rooster please>>>>

[godsgurl4evr]

He is 18 months old. Beautiful bird. A couple of weeks he went out there and was sitting on the roost. Didn't think much of it...and then he stood up and I saw why he was roosting mid day. As soon as he stood up the hens around him started pecking at his feet and they had his feet looking like hamburger they were so pecked up. I grabbed him and put him inside in a kennel, his broody blue cochin hen came to live with him so he wasn't alone and that kept him happy, she didn't bother his feet or I would not have put them together. His feet healed up and now they are growing new feathers. I go out there today to do some work mid day and he's on the roost. He stands up to move away from me and automatically the 2 hens on either side of him start pecking his feet...and they are all bloody again. It appears what is happening now is that they are pecking at the new feather growth that is blood filled because his actual feet were not burgered up like they were the first time they did this. Is there anything I can do for him to help him other then keep him in isolation where he is miserable? Are they picking at his new feather growth or is something else going on? Just this morning he was out breeding hens no problem, now he's sitting because his feet hurt from the pecking.

 

[wyandotte freak]

This may sound crazy but a friend told me to put apple cider vinegar in the chicken water and they would not peck each other. We started putting the cider in the water when they were chicks so they think that is what water is supposed to taste like. I do know someone who introduced it to older birds gradually without problems. We have a mille fleur d' uccle bantam with feathers on her feet and she has never been bothered. We have not had any problems with the chickens pecking each other except when we introduced an araucana chick to the flock. It was not serious, we just seperated her from the rest with some chicken wire till they get used to her. My friend told me that the cider satisfies an internal enzyme that makes them want to peck. Not sure how factual that is or how he knows that but he is pretty sharp when it comes to keeping everything organic which is what we try to do.

Anyways, in case you are interested, the mixture is 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar to 5 gallons of water.

 

[godsgurl4evr]

i will try that! They have never bothered him before and they all grew up together. I start all my chicks on apple cider vinegar and molasses in their water but I didn't keep them on it I thought it was just a temporary thing. Do you know if it's best just to keep them on it at all times? I try to be as organic as I can.

 

[wyandotte freak]

I keep them on the cider because it is supposed to be good for helping to stop internal critters too. We also use food grade diotamaceous earth in the coop to keep the the birds bug free. good luck.