chickens pecking other chickens

[jesslynnduran]

I have 12 RIRs and 3 cornish all females. I notice that my rir's pecking the cornish hens until they drew blood. I purchased medication to heal and to stop more pecking. What other options do I have? My coop is 7x12 and they are only 6 weeks old.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That's a nice size coop. I wish more people would give their birds that much room.
I've found that RIRs tend to be the bullies of the flock. They're OK with each other but pick on other birds.
Are they Cornish or Cornish Rock cross? If the latter, they're too lethargic to be with RIRs.

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

If you can split them up that would be a good idea. If not, they are gonna get bullied no matter what. :|

 

[jesslynnduran]

Thank you for all your input. I don't recall if they are a cross or not, but I did separate them from the rir's. Thanks again!

 

[520farmer]

I have 12 RIRs and 3 cornish all females. I notice that my rir's pecking the cornish hens until they drew blood. I purchased medication to heal and to stop more pecking. What other options do I have? My coop is 7x12 and they are only 6 weeks old.

Put one tablespoon of salt in one gallon of warm water and give it to them in the morning then change it out with clean water around noon. you can do this every 2 to 3 days shouldn't take more than one or two times to stop them. if its really bad you should separate them. ive also heard that raw liver can help too. you can also through some scratch grains out for them to keep them busy

a happy chicken is one that is eating. Good Luck!

 

[drlcb]

My last batch of Cornish went cannibal. They pecked one of my layers to death in one day. I culled the main culprit and then hung a few beer cans (Budweiser because of the red label) and some twine in the coop. That solved it. Not sure if they were bored but once you have a bird with blood they will not leave it alone. Some remedies call for "coloring" this injured bird wound any color but red. They really go after red... I forgot this once and used a "buzz lightyear" band aid to fix a two day old chicks legs... The other chicks went crazy pecking at the bandaid until I realized what I had just done and swapped it for a regular skin tone band aid...