Debeaking chickens

[naakte]

I have always thought it to be cruel and unneccessary to debeak a chicken. this morning # 4 of my WLH had a bloody tail. I have 2 houses in the WLH coop so I closed one of the houses up and put my injured chick in it, with its own supply of food and water. I went to the dr and checked my chickens when i got home and # 5 has a bloody tail. #4 now has a room mate until they get better. I blue cote all wounds and it turns their white feathers blue. when #1, #2 and #3 got bloody tails i thought it was my fault because maybe they needed more room, so I doubled their coop size and made 2 houses and never put #1, #2 and #3 back in with them again. In another coop I have 18 brown egg layers and never a drop of blood. I so regret getting WLH's. at this rate I should buy stock in Blu Cote. I started with 10 WLH, now only 5 remain unwounded. they are just 6 weeks old. I am seriously thinking debeaking is my only option to keep them from hurting each other. Are they too old for debeaking? it is very warm here today, does heat make them more vicious? is their an option I have not explored? ANY ideas would be appreciated greatly. This makes me so sad to see stark red blood on my oh so white birds.


Donna in branson

 

[emys]

You need to look at environmental factors to determine why they are doing this. Look for stress factors like too much (24 hrs) of daylight, not enough protein in their overall diet, and so on.

 

[Kat'sChicks]

Quote:
I totally agree, also you need to see if you can find out which one is being the aggressor (or which ones, but I'm guessing you have one) and THAT one should be separated or rehomed. If overcrowding isn't an issue you either have a mean chick or they're seriously lacking something. Remember; once they see blood it can become a frenzy and even the docile birds will join in.
Good luck!