chicken pecking at vent area?

[37 Caddy]

have a black jersey giant hen,that likes to peck at the vent area of some of the "weaker" ones in the flock,1 has just died,not totaly sure from this,but i suspect it,another has a very bloody looking vent area,seems the jersey is picking at her a lot?,what do ido?,would it help if they were debeaked,i have access to the debeaker if i need it.The jersey giant is sort of the queen of the flock,i have 11 hens in a 48 square foot pen,they cant go outside now as we have snow,they just dont want to go out,it was a barred rock that died,and now my other one is being picked on, she sneaks up under them when they are on the roost and whenever they are down on the floor too.i dont want to cull the giant,she is a good layer and a nice looking bird,just a bully.I dont have a rooster?,would 1 help to keep them in line?. any help is greatly appreciated. my flock is 1 black giant,3 red sex links,2 auracanas,3 mixed banty hens,1 barred rock-polish mix and a buff colored mix. Thanks

 

[BonRae67]

I would seperate the bully. Can you put her in a wire dog kennel in the coop? She will keep on doing this to everyone. Treat the pecked on ones so that they get better. Maybe you can let her back to the flock once everyone is healed.

 

[37 Caddy]

thats what i have done,she seems to be the only one who has been doing this. thanks

 

[enola]

What are the dimensions of your coop? Crowding causes boredom, boredom causes pecking, which can result in deaths......

 

[Fancychooklady]

thats what i have done,she seems to be the only one who has been doing this. thanks

I would also consider quarantining any birds with open wounds( separate to the bully ) Unfortunately just the sight of blood can cause canibalism in the flock. Spray the affected area with a good wound care product and keep the flies away.

 

[37 Caddy]

There are no flies here,it is minus 12 out, the room may be a bit small it is 6 X 8 feet. 48 sq feet,about what they recommend?,would love more room for them,but cant do it.Going to clean the wound good and apply a heavy layer of vaseline to it later,heard this may discourage the pecking,One of my original questions was about having them Debeaked,they remove the point on the beak,they do this for Egg farm birds,anyone have any experience with this,i do have access to the tool for it. Harvey

 

[BonRae67]

I don't like the sounds of that.

 

[37 Caddy]

I know what you mean,it sounds cruel,but it beats the alternative of badly picked birds or death for them.Dont want to do it but if it will help,it is not supposed to harm them,the beak is carmelized over when it is done,it uses a hot knife?, Harvey

 

[Fancychooklady]

I've had several ex battery hens that were debeaked. Whilst it effected their ability to free range , it never stopped them from pecking eggs open for a free feed.
I personally would try to rehome the culprit before I would go down that road.

 

[JulieAGill]

I have read that spraying the ones getting pecked with vinegar helps. Any thoughts on that?
Another idea was lightly rubbing vicks on all of them. Thoughts on this?
I have one main one that pecks on the back ends, had to separate the two that were pecked on pretty bad, one is still bald back there. I also bought some stuff to rub on the wounds that is supposed to discourage the pecking. I'm not sure that really helped with that. It did help the wounds heal though. I had also been giving them Duramycin-10 for about a week and can't eat the eggs. The one who was pecked the worst lays the same colored eggs as the one doing the pecking. The other at least lays a different colored egg (at least for right now). I have one, maybe two that as of yesterday have not started laying yet so I don't know what color their eggs will be. There only seems to be one who mostly does the pecking. Tomorrow we will be finishing the expansion of the run and putting a door on the hen house expansion. We added two feet to the house and the run will be four feet longer. So their run will be a total of about 10 feet long, 6 feet wide. Their house, 6 feet wide by 4 or 5 feet long with 5 nesting boxes, though they have a corner they also like to lay eggs in. It is where they first started the laying. I guess it's hard to break them of old habits. Anyway, if anyone has suggestions on what may help stop the pecking without taking drastic measures I will welcome them.