Ameraucana getting picked on my Leghorns - any advice

[divinemercy]

We have 9 chickens or varying breeds and two ducks, our first flock. The Leghorns have been, for the most part, the dominant ones since they were chicks. In the past few days, however, they have become a bit violent towards our Ameraucana, who is quite docile. They have pecked out the feathers on one side of her neck, leaving bare flesh and a little (very little) blood.

Other than seperate housing (not a possibilty in our situation), does anyone have any advice? Can the Leghorns be trained not to attack her?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Cuban Longtails]

What is the protien percentage you're getting out of the feed they get? Feather picking is often a sign of a nutrient defeciency. Short of that, if they are just being territorial, you'll have to find a way to separate them or get rid of either the ameraucana or the legorns.

 

[divinemercy]

I will check, but I know we were careful when picking out their food. None of the others are feather picking, and the Leghorns are only doing it to the Ameraucana.

 

[cmom]

Are all the Leghorns picking on the Ameraucana. I had one aggressive bird. One day I caught her savagely attacking another bird. I gave her a good wack. She hasn't done it again to my knowledge. I put a camera out to watch them.

 

[Tailfeathers]

As an Ameraucan Breeder my only advice would be to get rid of the Leghorns!

God Bless,

 

[jossanne]

Some chickens are dominant, some are timid. The timid ones get picked on the most, because they don't stand up for themselves. I've got a white polish pullet who's had to move out of the main henhouse, and is now in with the 11wo bantams and BR packing peanuts. They don't pick at her, because she's bigger than they are. She was picked mercilessly in the main henhouse, and she just stood there with her head down and let it happen.

If your poor ameraucana is going to be picked on, you might need to find her a new home.

In the mean time, if she's got a wound that bleeds, they will pick it until they kill her. You need to separate her from the rest until she's healed up, preferably in a wire cage inside the hen house, so that when it's time to re-integrate her, she's not the total newbie and doesn't have to go through the pecking order thing as badly as she would if she was totally separate.

 

[-Isla June-]

We have 9 chickens or varying breeds and two ducks, our first flock. The Leghorns have been, for the most part, the dominant ones since they were chicks. In the past few days, however, they have become a bit violent towards our Ameraucana, who is quite docile. They have pecked out the feathers on one side of her neck, leaving bare flesh and a little (very little) blood.

Other than seperate housing (not a possibilty in our situation), does anyone have any advice? Can the Leghorns be trained not to attack her?

Thanks for your help!

This is happening to us as well. We have already lost one Americauna to our chickens pecking it to death. A few months ago before this all began we were noticing bare spots on our chickens. We then decided to watch the coop for a few minutes and noticed other chickens going to my Americauna and taking a feather off of its back and walking away. Over time it began to grow larger and small red spots would appear. We applied treatment, but it doesn't seem to work. Instead of separating the good chicken (The one getting pecked), put the bad ones, (the ones pecking) in a different area of a coop or smaller wire cage/coop. Whatever you have. Being separated from even one chicken is a huge punishment to mean chickens in the flock.

As usual, chickens are highly attracted to red, so blood, even a little, NEEDS to be gone. Otherwise over time, slowly but surely your chicken is going to get pecked more and more till death. I recommend treating your chicken's bare spot with Rooster Booster Pick-No-More Healing Lotion. You can normally find it at your local Tractor Supply depending on where you live or order it online for less than ten dollars on Chewy.com or Amazon. The lotion will turn anything it touches purple immediately but it can come off of hands. It tastes bad to chickens, so when they attempt plucking feathers or getting blood, they won't do it again because of the taste. It will also heal the bare spot and take away blood. I switched to this and notice a difference.

Again, do not separate the chicken getting pecked, if you do then she will one, feel punished, and two, when you put her back in the coop the other chickens will get upset and more aggressive. WIth the horrible sport of chicken fighting known in some countries, they pick up the rooster and throw it in the coop. For some reason, this makes other chickens mad, and begins fighting. This has happened to me when I put a chicken in after escaping a few times. Now, take some time to watch the chicks in the coop. Try to notice the chickens pecking your poor Americauna, and notice the ones being kind. Put the ones being kind, or at least a few, with the Americauna when you take out the bad ones. Then watch the Americauna and friendly side of the coop to see if there is still any attacking or pecking going on. If so then take out more of the bad ones.

For separation I recommend either buying a crate, or if possible, closing the door to the main coop and putting bad chickens in the run, and good chickens in the main coop. The main coop offers more comfort and already has food and water, the other chickens, believe it or not, will get jealous. You can place food in the run if you need to, but chickens can dig for worms, and they will be fine in the meantime.

At night, if possible, but the kind chickens wherever your nesting boxes are, but only if there is a door to separate the main coop from the nesting box. If there is not a door to separate then buy a small dog crate. One that is able to fit inside of your coop. This sounds crazy but it works! Put the one Americauna inside that small crate and put some food inside. It will have water the next day and will be fine overnight. Put the crate inside the coop so that all chickens are together. The next day, do it again, and don't forget to re-apply the treatment. If this doesn't work I am so sorry and hope that your chicken is healed and the others are kind! Blessings!!