Chicken's 'ankles' both bleeding

[Maton1]

Ok so latest, I have for now decided to separate my Sussex that has been bullying everyone. I noticed this morning that she was not only pecking at the feet of the injured chicken but also picking at the feet of most of the others including one of my chickens that's at the top of the pecking order.

So now I don't know what to do with her. She's our favorite hen because she's the only one that is tame and she lays eggs consistently, even in these freezing temperatures. She's probably around a year old or so.

I isolated her in a doggie transporter. So I guess I'll isolate her for about 4-5 days to see if she'll forget the feet pecking pattern. Is that the right thing to try?

I'd hate to have to put her down. I guess I'll keep her in the box and then put her in the garage at night. Tonight we have 14 degrees c. One of the coldest nights this year.

 

[Maton1]

Sorry for soo many questions but should I put her with dog crate in the garage for the evening by herself? I would bring her in the house but like said the temp difference is pretty extreme. It's 72 inside while it will be probably like 17 degrees in the night. Then around 35 degrees during the daytime in the next days. Just not sure if bringing her in for the night would be good for their immune system.

Or could I put her back in with the others at night when it's dark and they're not pecking on each other and then put her back in the crate in the morning. I'm not sure though if that would help stop the pecking pattern. ? thnx

 

[ChicNmom]

You could try putting her out after dark and then bring her in first thing in the morning to keep the pecking down. Vet wrap is at TSC and places like that. The people version should be at any drug store. If she picks at the bandages it might be good to try and put something on them that tastes bad. Right now I can't think of something that would also not soak in to the wrap.

 

[Maton1]

Yes, I have to decide. With it being soo cold in the night probably the garage will also be extremely cold by herself. Not easy w this weather.

I tried some self adhesive tape in the morning. Maybe it was not adhesive enough because the injured hen pulled one almost off within minutes and then I think another one ate it. Couldn't find it anywhere. They all pull on or go for anything whether paper, plastic wrapers or bandages.

Anyway I noticed the Sussex did quit some pecking damage also on the other hen so it's not looking too good.

Is there an average amount of days a bullying hen should be isolated, to 'deprograme' her? I always see about 4 days.

 

[Maton1]

I guess I either scared everyone away or tired them out.

So does anyone have other clever tricks to cure a Hen who is going after other chicken's feet and doing pretty good damage?

I know chickens can develope pecking problems especially in the winter.

Only one of my hens went into molt this winter so she was especially targeted and the other chickens are sometimes pulling and eating her feathers but she looks good anyways and has no bald spots.

Because of the feather eating thing I supplement them a little protein (mealworms etc) about twice a week. I gave them a little bio catfood as well. Could that have made bully chicken go nuts after other's feet? It seems like it started around the time they had their first taste of catfood.

I also made them homemade flock blocks for boredom and things to climb on etc.

I isolated my Sussex now for the 2nd day. She still tries to go for feet through the fence.

I really want to keep her but I don't know how to break this behavior. She is the family favorite and almost like a pet. She only started doing this about a week ago.

We've had the chickens about a year.

How do you break chicken feet pecking?

 

[KaseySnow]

I dunno if you're still looking for an answer to this, but pinless peepers are supposed to cure chickens who have a pecking fixation. You can get them online.

 

[Maton1]

I dunno if you're still looking for an answer to this, but pinless peepers are supposed to cure chickens who have a pecking fixation. You can get them online.

Thanks, yes we tried the pinless peepers for some weeks and they really worked for us. The only slight problem was that it started to turn her beak a little black and blue. I guess the pins hit a vessel or something.

Since we've taken the peepers off of her to let her beak heal we started noticing signs of pecking again. This time some feather loss around the chest/neck area of two other hens and still the occasions peck marks seens on the legs of a few.

She hasn't drawn any blood yet and she doesn't peck constantly so we're not sure how to proceed.
The peepers worked great but it's hard for us to decide when to use apply them again.
I like the results they gave us but we hesitate with them because they seem pretty brutal, or at least pretty uncomfortable.

We have a hard time in general because this particular hen who's doing all this is honestly our favorite hen.
We've had a few different opportunities to get rid of her but every time we changed our minds.
If we could we'd rather keep her even more than the others.
She's almost like a pet dog.
So it pains us to put the peepers back on but I guess waiting till there's blood drawn is also not an option.

 

[KaseySnow]

Sorry to hear the peepers didn't work the first time. I've heard of people doing repeat "peeper treatments" with hens before who were persistent peckers. I've seen a story of one owner on here who said they put the peepers on for 2 weeks then took them off and the hen started pecking again. So they then put them on for 3 more weeks, took them off, and after a few days the pecking started again. So they did it again for 1 whole month and after that the hen didn't peck anymore. So it might take a longer stint or even a few "rounds" with the peepers to totally break her habit.

Some pecking is normal to establish hierarchy, but if it's happening to the point of feather loss then that is abnormal.

Out of curiosity, how big is the run/coop? Do they get to free range at all?

A lot of times, pecking is worse when chickens are in too small of a space and the victim can't get away from the pecker. Some estimates suggest 4 square feet of space per chicken in their run if they don't get to free range. This allows them enough space to move around and avoid each other. If they are stuck in a coop or small run for much of the day, pecking will definitely be worse.

If letting them free range or giving more space isn't an option, you could try some enrichment items to preoccupy them and prevent boredom, which is where a lot of pecking habits begin. I've heard of everything from mirrors to DIY climbing towers, to hanging a head of cabbage on a string for them. Even a flock block can provide extra entertainment and get their minds off of each other. Do a search for chicken toys on the forum and I'll bet you'll find lots of ideas.

 

[Maton1]

Hi again.
So I've supplied you with a few more pics if it helps. Hope I'm not bothering.

Pic #1- Shows inside the Omlet run and you can see the coop at the back of it.

What I've noticed is that the chickens, except for a few times a day mostly stay together within a sq.meter area. They love each other but find each other a little tastey also.

I did see Twitch peck real short today on another's bald spot.

What I've noticed though is her pecking is now more curious pecking instead of like, 'I wanna eat that', kind of pecking.

She's always been a very curious hen and the most alert. I've heard Sussex are known for that. She also loves to pick and dig on our clothes. She's interested in textiles.


That perch inside the Omlet run there I've never seen them use.


Pic #2-shows from above so you can see the back of the coop. That green section there is the Eglu Omlet coop. At the back of the coop is the door and on the Lft. side of the coop (towards the wall), is another door to get the eggs.
If I were to put the Coop/run towards the wall we probably wouldn't be able to use that nest door anymore.

Pic# 3- Also from above shows you the reason why we can't expand.

We have a pool to the left and that plastic tunnel in the front of run is our vegetable beds.
Sorry, bamboo cover to lft blocks shot a little.

That other wood construction by the veggie beds is the second coop we built for them. They can go underneath it to rest and for shade.

We built it the same dimensions as their omlet coop so it wouldn't be too foreign to them.

As you see we also built a mini salad bar after your suggestion.
We can also make a larger one later.

Pic 4- Shows again the back of the coop so you can see how much space we have in the back. We clean the coop from the back coop door and from the back you pull out the poop tray.
The plant there is a black currant, so the chickens have a berry bush and a grape vine.
Where the chicken is standing in pic is also the entrance into the run.

Pic 5- Is our Königsberger. It's looks worse because I'm pulling the feathers back.
Her bare spot actually looks like it has improved since last week. It's starting to cover over.
She also has pen feathers showing in that spot.

Pic 6-This next one is Scratch our other Sussex. She is also showing a bald spot but she has not been pecked on.
At least no one has ever seen it.
But she was the one that had the 'bloody ankles', at the beginning of this whole mess.
Weird because she is the 1st in the pecking order.
I think she is first because even though she got bloody from twitch back in Feb. I saw her standing her ground and pecking on Twitch's head to bug off.
As you notice there are many pen feathers around the bald spot and the skin there is untouched and in good shape. So, a mini moult?

Pic 6- This is the maran that got picked. It also looks worse because I'm pushing the feathers back. Usually her other feathers are covering the naked spot up.

We saw on her that there had been a little red or scaring on two small places.
I also noticed pen feathers coming in on the bald spot.

She's obviously the worst case but I haven't seen Twitch peck on her in the last week or more.
So that's why we've been hesitant to put the peepers on right away because it's all a little confusing.
We've seen pen feathers coming in for weeks now on the two first birds.
So we don't know if Twitch caused the initial damage or just pecked out of curiousity at these partially bald spots where feathers are coming in.

I did see Twitch pulling at the feathers of the Maran's neck some weeks ago.
But like said, I haven't seen her do that anymore for that last couple of weeks.

I guess it sounds like I'm try to defend the bully hen.
We will indeed put the peepers back on as soon as we see things worsen or if in case you'd think from the looks of the pic, 'it's time'.
It's better than the soup.