Chickens pecking each other

[boxfordeggs]

We have twenty one hens (no roosters) and recently some have been pecked by others. We don't know which are doing the pecking. The chickens who are getting pecked have lost all their tail feathers and a large patch of feathers near the tail so we bought pinless chicken peepers to try to resolve the issue. As soon as we started releasing the peepers into one chicken's nostrils, she would jerk her head back as if it hurt. We had the same reaction three times on another when we attempted to insert the short pins into the nostrils. Where exactly are we supposed to put the peepers on the chicken's beak? Or do you have other suggestions to alleviate our feather-losing chicken problem?

 

[lovemelovemybirds]

sorry.. I can't hlp at all.. except more room for them to get away from each other..sounds like a spce/crowding issue? but.. about these peepers things? I never knew there was such a thing.. and if it's pinless? why are there short pins in the nostrils? Sounds barbaric.

 

[savingdogs]

I don't have experience with pinless peepers, but I'm sure someone on here will.

I've had a problem with this as well. One thing that worked was isolating the pecked-up chickens for awhile until they had some re-growth of feathers. The other chickens can't seem to resist bare red skin.

With ours, it had to do with certain hens being really dominate and ....rooster wear. So isolating the naked ladies helped them recover from both.