Another pecking order vs bullying question.

[rosemarythyme]

I had been wondering if chickens ever groom each other, or if it’s always assumed to be feather picking.

They do groom each other, and it can turn into feather picking. Like bearded birds can lose their beards and muffs from overzealous grooming, but if you watch it as it happens, you will see them standing still and letting the others pick off their faces. Or roosters can get their faces and necks picked from their hens grooming in the same fashion.

 

[thecatumbrella]

They do groom each other, and it can turn into feather picking. Like bearded birds can lose their beards and muffs from overzealous grooming, but if you watch it as it happens, you will see them standing still and letting the others pick off their faces. Or roosters can get their faces and necks picked from their hens grooming in the same fashion.

Gotcha. So it's a fine line between sweet and overzealous!

 

[aart]

This is from my integration notes, but applies to flock keeping in general:
. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no copious blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down and beaten unmercilessly, let them work it out.

 

[thecatumbrella]

Wanted to provide an update to anyone in the future browsing this thread.

She's progressed to full-on feather pulling. I've caught (and corrected) her 3 days in a row. It's not pecking order related; I think she just has a screw loose with all that RIR DNA. My other "Golden Comet"/"Cinnamon Queen" (do these sex-link names even mean anything when every hatchery uses different parent breeds ) is very nippy towards us as well.

We're going to continue monitoring to ensure it doesn't progress to full-blown harassment or injury, but she has until point-of-law + 30 days to calm the fudge down. Otherwise, we'll be rehoming to her to larger flock that free-ranges. My birds are too docile to correct her, and I don't want the behavior spreading.

I'm sure I'm doing everything wrong, but this is the plan for now. Chickens have quite the learning curve!