Chickens pecking eachother

[ckeene1990]

I have 5 chickens that are 7 months old, they all hatched together and were raised together. A while back I had to remove one due to illness, but gradually got everything back to normal. After a bit, I noticed a lot of pecking happening that didn’t before, and not just one chicken but all of them. They all have one that they peck, and one that pecks them. I thought they may have been re establishing pecking order, and none of it was really excessive, so I let them go. Today I noticed one chicken has a wound on its head, nothing major but it still is there. These are my first chickens, so I’m not sure what to do.

 

[FrostRanger]

How big is the coop and run in feet?

 

[ckeene1990]

How big is the coop and run in feet?

I’m not sure off the top of my head, buts they are both rather big, especially for only 5 chickens. I don’t think it’s a territorial thing, all of this wasn’t until recently

 

[Mrs. K]

But just recently they became adults. It happens quite frequently on here about this time of year, where people have flocks that were raised together, and have gotten along just fine, all of a sudden start ugly behaviors and almost always it is not enough space.

Five regular size chickens need a house that is at least 4 feet by 5 feet. A lot of people start with a pre-fab coop that states it will hold 6 chickens, and that is misleading, because they don't. 3 of the bigger birds, and maybe 4 of the bantam birds.

Being raised together has almost no influence on chicken flock behavior as adults, and neither does free ranging for a period in the day.

Couple of solutions - as it is very likely that this behavior will get worse as time goes on, especially going into winter where the birds will roost nearly 14+ hours a night.

• pin less peepers - can really help out people with small flocks in tight areas
• selling some of the birds - a smaller flock
• a bigger building for the coop and run

Mrs K

 

[aart]

I’m not sure off the top of my head, buts they are both rather big, especially for only 5 chickens.

Take your tape measure and camera out there and come back with dimensions and pics.
What all and how exactly are you feeding?
What was the removed bird sick with?
Did you add her back to the flock?

 

[ckeene1990]

Take your tape measure and camera out there and come back with dimensions and pics.
What all and how exactly are you feeding?
What was the removed bird sick with?
Did you add her back to the flock?

I dont have a tape measure off hand, but I’ll post pictures. They get purina layer pellets, fed from a bucket with feeding ports. The chicken that was removed had a vitamin deficiency. It took a bit, but she is back in the flock.

 

[aart]

I dont have a tape measure off hand, but I’ll post pictures.

It does look to be of decent size for 5 birds.
Might add some clutter in there to distract them all.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/

It took a bit, but she is back in the flock.

Did the pecking start when you added her back?

 

[ckeene1990]

It does look to be of decent size for 5 birds.
Might add some clutter in there to distract them all.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/


Did the pecking start when you added her back?

Yes, it was never an issue before. When we started to reintroduce Anastasia, she was attacked, so we gradually reintroduced her until it was essentially back to normal, then the pecking started. They all have one that they peck, and one that they get pecked by, there is no clear dominant chicken.

 

[aart]

so we gradually reintroduced her until it was essentially back to normal, then the pecking started. They all have one that they peck, and one that they get pecked by, there is no clear dominant chicken.

How long since thing wen't "back to normal"?
Could be they are just readjusting the pecking order.

 

[Mrs. K]

You do have enough space. Usually that is the problem. I second adding more clutter, it make more use of the vertical space, it lets birds get away from each other.

When you add clutter hide another feed bowl behind something so that when birds are eating at one, they can’t see who is eating at another.