Feather Pecking!!! How do you make them stop?

[ChicKat]

Have you considered these?


https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/omlet-us-bumpa-bits

 

[aart]

Have you considered these?


https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/omlet-us-bumpa-bits

Gawd those look worse than the pinless peepers....they look like they'd inhibit their eating and drinking.

 

[owly]

I've had this problem many times, as well.
Feather pecking usually starts during times of stress, limited space, lack of food/water, poor enrichment, or insufficient nutrition, usually the deficiency of protein.
To prevent this issue in the first place, always allow a gradual change for birds for any reason, and if this is not possible be sure to keep them as comfortable as possible, give the birds as much room as possible, and if you can;t provide enough, get rid of some birds. Keep the food and water as full and as plentiful as possible. Be sure to provide plenty of enrichment, or entertainment, such as throwing out some scratch grains, such as corn, kitchen scraps, straw, and places for them to climb on and dust bathe.

When birds start picking, especially when you wait this long, it's nearly impossible to get rid of it. It's best to cull out those who are picking before others carry the habit.

 

[Getaway Farms]

It is pretty rare for me to see the feather pecking. What I have seen a few times is one hen pecking once or twice at the back of another hen and in one case I did see a feather get pulled out.

I have seen the pecking both in the coop and while they are free ranging.

Most of the pecking that I have seen I would describe as merely one hen showing dominance over another hen by giving her one or two pecks. Basically establishing their pecking order. I am not seeing once hen grazing and pecking multiple times at another hen until the other hen is bald.

When I have seen a couple hens peck, I caught them and put them in a separate small pen for a few weeks. Either I caught the wrong hens or there are multiple pecking hens.

 

[Getaway Farms]

Sightings of any picking at all are pretty rare. The few occasions that I saw any picking at all were both outside and in the coop.

The picking that I witnessed was merely 1 or 2 pecks. One hen is NOT grazing at the other hen until it develops a bald spot.

When I have seen a hen pecking, I catch the hen and segregate it for several weeks hoping to see the feathers return.

Even after several weeks of segregation I do not see significant improvement.

I am supplementing their laying ration with soy meal to increase the protein in their diet and I am seeing new feathers developing, but there still must be pecking going on.

 

[Getaway Farms]

Have you considered these?


https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/omlet-us-bumpa-bits

I would love to try Bumpa Bits!

They are distributed in the UK, but I cannot find anyone in Canada or the United States that sell them. I have not had luck finding sellers in the UK that will ship to Canada.

Where can you find them?

 

[ChicKat]

I would love to try Bumpa Bits!

They are distributed in the UK, but I cannot find anyone in Canada or the United States that sell them. I have not had luck finding sellers in the UK that will ship to Canada.

Where can you find them?

Try Omlet USA or eBay---

let's see if I can find a link:
https://www.omlet.us/shop/chicken_keeping/bumpa_bits/

btw - these circlip pliers REALLY help with the installation - don't think I could have done it without them - these are from the UK though...tool experts tell me that there are similar tools here in the USA. Instead of pinching together when you squeeze the handle - the spread apart.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313&_nkw=bumpa+bits&_sacat=0

Looks like efowl has something similar for pheasants...don't know if they would work for chickens
http://www.efowl.com/Miscellaneous_Poultry_Supplies_for_Sale_s/299.htm


BTW it doesn't interfere with eating/drinking - but it does stop pecking -- she did act a little freaky the first 1/2 hour or so that she had them on....then it was all normal - she was so mean...she was dubbed the Evil Queen.

You may want to google on bumper bits, bumpa bits and antipecking or anti-pecking - you know that merchandise is always changing on eBay. Good luck!!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I have had trouble with feather pecking in my flock of hens for almost 8 months. I have 23 Black Star hens and 3 Orpington hens in the same coop. Almost half my hens have at least a small bald patch around their vent and/or back. Some have large bald patches. The feather pecking started last winter when we had a long Manitoba, Canada cold spell of minus 30 and colder and the hens were locked in a coop. Initially I thought the problem was having 3 roosters in the same coop which were constantly pouncing on the hens. I removed the roosters expecting the feathers to grow back, but they did not.

I suspected that they may have mites, I have looked for mites on several occasions during the day and night and have not found any.

Since spring the hens are allowed to free range for several hours a day. I only allow 1 rooster to free range with the hens at a time and I keep the roosters in a separate pen when the hens are not free ranging. I moved the hens to a new 10`x 12`coop to give them more room. I have tried keeping badly de-feathered hens in a separate pen and feeding them a boosted protein diet to grow their feathers back before returning them to the flock. I have tried separating suspect feather pecking hens. I have tried using anti-feather pecking gel products on the pecked hens. Everything that I have tried has had a minimal impact on the problem.

http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/poultry/ectoparasites/mites_of_poultry.html

 

[rachpatterson]

I have a hen that pecks. Our first 2 chickens were cornish cross meat birds a hen and a rooster. The day after we got them we got 2 5 month old leghorn hens. The meat birds both bullied and pecked the leghorns so we so sold the cornish the next weekend. The following Sunday we got 3 black sexlinks. They are in a 5x6 coop at night and free range during the day. They have been together for a week now and get along good, they all range the yard together. The leghorns do bully them when I give treats but do not peck. The pecking starts when they fly up to their roosts. We have 3 nest boxes with a roost bar in front and a roost bar opposite that one on the other end. The leghorns will peck out the black stars feathers if they are on the roost near the nest boxes. Only one hen a black star is laying so far. There is a self filling gravity food pipe and 3 water nipples inside the coop and they have a plastic beer tub waterer in the yard. They free range and have laying pellets in the gravity feeder. I don't know if they are just working out the pecking order this week or if I just need to sell the leghorns next? Any thoughts?

 

[aart]

I have a hen that pecks. Our first 2 chickens were cornish cross meat birds a hen and a rooster. The day after we got them we got 2 5 month old leghorn hens. The meat birds both bullied and pecked the leghorns so we so sold the cornish the next weekend. The following Sunday we got 3 black sexlinks. They are in a 5x6 coop at night and free range during the day. They have been together for a week now and get along good, they all range the yard together. The leghorns do bully them when I give treats but do not peck. The pecking starts when they fly up to their roosts. We have 3 nest boxes with a roost bar in front and a roost bar opposite that one on the other end. The leghorns will peck out the black stars feathers if they are on the roost near the nest boxes. Only one hen a black star is laying so far. There is a self filling gravity food pipe and 3 water nipples inside the coop and they have a plastic beer tub waterer in the yard. They free range and have laying pellets in the gravity feeder. I don't know if they are just working out the pecking order this week or if I just need to sell the leghorns next? Any thoughts?

As long as you have at least a foot of nicely sized roost length for each bird, it's just a pecking order thing.

My flock that have been integrated for 4 months now, have a 'pecking party' almost every night at roost time....nothing to worry about unless someone is being bloodied.

All flocks do some pecking, chasing and dominating in varying degrees all day long....it's just how chickens roll.