Brand new to this but lovin it

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hatboy

hatboy

Hatching
5 Years
Joined
Jul 21, 2014
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Location
Coventry, England
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Hello. We have just rescued 7 birds and are enjoying learning their personalities.
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! How nice of you to rescue the birds, bet they are glad to have a nice new home!
 
Welcome to BYC! It was nice of you to rescue them. They may be past their laying prime, but with good care you may get a couple of more years of decent laying from them. You have certainly started them off with a nice coop and run. Good luck with your flock.
 
Thanks a lot for the warm welcome and thanks for the comment about their accommodation Michael it some what reassures a newbie who is still doubting his every decision. One of the girls is getting bullied to the point of one of us standing on guard pretty much most of the day is there anything we can do to help her out ?
 
hatboy said:
Thanks a lot for the warm welcome and thanks for the comment about their accommodation Michael it some what reassures a newbie who is still doubting his every decision. One of the girls is getting bullied to the point of one of us standing on guard pretty much most of the day is there anything we can do to help her out ?
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First spray some Blue Kote Wound spray onto any injuries that the picked on hen has. If your not familiar with it, you can see it at http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/blue_kote_wound_dressing.html). Not only will this help her wounds to heal, but the bad taste (and camouflaging color if there is blood) will discourage the other hens from pecking her in the areas where you have applied the Blue Kote. Then keep an eye on her and make sure the other hens are not attacking her. If they are still attacking her, put her in a safe place each day to protect her while she eats and drinks (you do not want her having problems from not eating and drinking enough).
If the other hens are still picking on her after applying the Blue Kote, watch and see if you tell if one of the other chickens is the ring leader in the bullying (the one instigating it, even if the others are joining in), and take out the ring leader for a couple of weeks (just put her in her own separate cage). If you can't tell which one is the ring leader, try separating two or three of the most dominant hens from the rest of the flock for a couple of weeks. Then reintroduce her (or them) to the flock, which will force a reshuffling of the pecking order and take the immediate attention off of the hen that is being pecked on.
The problem could simply be not enough space in your coop and run. How many square feet is your coop and run. The standard is a minimum of 4 sq. ft. per hen in the coop and 10 sq. ft. per hen in the run (more is better). That means with 7 hens you should have a coop with a floor area of at least 28 sq. ft. minimum, and a run with a floor area of at least 70 sq. ft. minimum. Overcrowding can quickly lead to aggression, feather plucking, and even cannibalism.
Also make sure that your hens are eating enough protein and a nutritionally balanced chicken feed and that they get a decent period of darkness to sleep every night (no bright lights of any kind shining into the coop.
Also, if they are molting, they can become irritable and the bullying problem may pass when they have finished molting.
Another thing that can help is diversions in the coop and run (even chickens can become bored). Hang some shiny aluminum pie pans around for them to peck on, and occasionally hang a couple of heads of cabbage in the run. Also putting in an additional food and water container in a different location may help cut out the bullying.
If none of these things work, as a last resort you can get peepers (see http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/pinless_peepers.html), to block the vision of the bully or bullies.
Hope this helps. Good luck in solving your bullying problem.
 

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