The two chickens lowest in my pecking order are getting pecked on their combs, and having feathers pulled out on their heads I had kept them closed in their coop and not let them in their run today, because it was under -25C all day. It is going to be cold this whole week. Should I just let them go in their run? I was going to see if I could go buy hay or straw that they could scratch and peck in. Is there anything else I can do to stop having them get pecked on? Thanks, Zoë
We've had cold weather here too...several days "cooped up". I just put in the coop a couple apples cut in half and CORED to remove seeds, this gave them a treat and something to peck at rather than each other. You could put out anything that they can peck on. I think I've read that the can get compacted crop, so I'd watch the straw and hay intake.
Don't keep them confined just cause it's cold, they're telling you they're too confined. How many birds do you have, and how large is the coop and run?
I don't get that cold here but I'd try to get some hay or some type of ground cover to put on the snow to help keep their feet out of it. The idea of putting something in the coop to distract them is a great idea. If you can hang things that will make it even better since the food will move around.
Hang a cabbage if you can, just high enough so they have to jump up a little to peck at it. My flock goes through a cabbage a week. You could also hang a suet cage and fill it with suet or treats. I usually put kale or spinach leaves into the suet cage first and then fill in with a few blueberries (or other bits of fruit), broccoli, cooked carrots, chunked pumpkin. You can fill a liter soda bottle with black oil sunflower seeds and poke holes in the bottle so when they peck at it, seeds will fall out. Becomes quite a little game once they are no longer afraid of the bottle.
