Feather pecking,eating........

[CWP1966]

Does anyone have any advice or home remedies to keep birds from pecking each other? I have 36 birds in 6 coop/runs. These are walk in runs. Plenty of room,protein....no mites or lice. I looked them over good at night with a flashlight and treated them anyway. I hatched my newest chickens June 1st last year, all in my newest set up. 12 hens an 1 roo. Since they were 5 weeks old they have pecked at each other. My polish roo has been bald the whole time. Most of the hens are bald around the vent. 2 are really ragged even on the breast. I let them outside when I'm off. They're around each other and I'm in and out of all of their coops. My older chickens are fine. I would think if it was something like mites all would be affected because of contact with each other and my clothes and shoes. They all get 16% crumbles, very little scratch, table scraps, old bread and LOTS of crushed boiled eggs..shell and all. They're all laying like crazy and seem to be healthy. 32 hens and 4 roos. Thanks for any help. JDR.

 

[homestead 101]

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[chickens really]

These are the main causes of picking in poultry


Too hot
Too crowded
Short of fresh air
Coops to brightly lit and protein in feed is not high enough....

You could try a higher protein feed, cut out all the scratch and boiled eggs.....

Once picking starts its hard to break....Put Vaseline on the picked birds .....Chickens do not like it at all.....


Best wishes.....


Cheers!