Giving up chicken for its aggression..

[Lickety split]

Also, share this discussion with your teacher and classmates.

This should be something everyone works together to resolve. It's a great learning opportunity here on BYC.

I’m definitely gonna share this thread with her

 

[Lickety split]

The chickens are here because it’s agriculture and animal science class! And yeah i’m trying to understand her so we can help her but now i seem to be running out of time y know.. we live in florida and id say the range is.. very inaccurate but maybe 30x 30 ft? Size of a large bedroom and sometimes larger when they escape into the garden, and yes they free range when IM there, i don’t know about others, they might not wanna round them up. Maybe 2 years old??? They’re all hens and they’re red sexlinks. 1 food and water station. They have a roost stick, a board of wood maybe 2-3 ft off the ground, a foot wide. The missing feathers is a mystery. I can’t watch them every sec since they’re at school but they have no butt feathers now and some red areas on their belly, she thinks its from the gravel when they lay in the dirt. I will get back with the coop measurements and pics Friday.. or if my teach can send pics :0!

Oh yeah and we measure it out because each chicken should get a cup of food i think, so 4 cups and sometimes theres leftovers

 

[Sunshine Flock]

I'd do some cooked egg as suggested. They'll gobble it up. Some fresh greens is nice during the heat.

They could have mites; hence the bare skin and missing feathers. It could be from a bully on the roosts at night. The roost can also cause bare spots and sores on the breast and underside from resting there all night.

With the food do they ever run out during the day and you guys don't refill it until the next day? That could cause food aggression. I feel that once you've figured out an average daily food expenditure, they should have access to as much food as they choose to eat. I'm referring to their layer pellets. Treats in moderation.

What about access to calcium? Oyster shells?

Do they have good shade in their yard?

 

[Sunshine Flock]

Small details can affect behavior.

But this could also be a deficiency of some kind or mites, etc. Some closeup photos of the missing feathers areas and underside would be helpful.

 

[Lickety split]

I'd do some cooked egg as suggested. They'll gobble it up. Some fresh greens is nice during the heat.

They could have mites; hence the bare skin and missing feathers. It could be from a bully on the roosts at night. The roost can also cause bare spots and sores on the breast and underside from resting there all night.

With the food do they ever run out during the day and you guys don't refill it until the next day? That could cause food aggression. I feel that once you've figured out an average daily food expenditure, they should have access to as much food as they choose to eat. I'm referring to their layer pellets. Treats in moderation.

What about access to calcium? Oyster shells?

Do they have good shade in their yard?

I pick them up and study them all the time, i don’t think i’ve seen mites.. and like kids they personallt don’t like greens, only grass and tomatoes. Only time they run out of food is if someone doesn’t fill it well, usually theres a tiny bit left and they have spilled food in the coop to eat then. I think the food has calcium in it, otherwise i can dust mealworms in calcium and d3 i use for mt gecko. And if it were the roost, wich could be part of it, what could we do to help resuce those sores? I’ve heard if the roost is too big it can be a problem.

 

[Lickety split]

Small details can affect behavior.

But this could also be a deficiency of some kind or mites, etc. Some closeup photos of the missing feathers areas and underside would be helpful.

I’ll get a closeup on those spots when i can.. had a pic but not anymore

 

[Lickety split]

I pick them up and study them all the time, i don’t think i’ve seen mites.. and like kids they personallt don’t like greens, only grass and tomatoes. Only time they run out of food is if someone doesn’t fill it well, usually theres a tiny bit left and they have spilled food in the coop to eat then. I think the food has calcium in it, otherwise i can dust mealworms in calcium and d3 i use for mt gecko. And if it were the roost, wich could be part of it, what could we do to help resuce those sores? I’ve heard if the roost is too big it can be a problem.

Also the shade they get us under the coop, we don’t have space for a tree but we have a mango tree tryna grow; no trees since they’re between a portable and the school wall.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

I pick them up and study them all the time, i don’t think i’ve seen mites.. and like kids they personallt don’t like greens, only grass and tomatoes. Only time they run out of food is if someone doesn’t fill it well, usually theres a tiny bit left and they have spilled food in the coop to eat then. I think the food has calcium in it, otherwise i can dust mealworms in calcium and d3 i use for mt gecko. And if it were the roost, wich could be part of it, what could we do to help resuce those sores? I’ve heard if the roost is too big it can be a problem.

I'm not sure what to do about a possible roosting problem. But lots of others here have dealt with that before, so hopefully once they seem some closeup photos, they can offer some good insight on what to do.

 

[bobbi-j]

A 3x3' coop is not nearly enough room for 4 full grown hens. Recommended minimum space is 4' square per bird inside, and 10 square feet per bird in the run. These are merely recommendations, and not a hard and fast rule. But over crowding can cause bad habits like feather picking to occur. Here is a good article by Ridgerunner on space for chickens:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-much-room-do-chickens-need.66180/

If they're not out free ranging, they need food available at all times. Not enough protein will also cause feather picking. Tell your teacher to use the PVC feeder - it will reduce feed waste.

Cull as in kill or remove? Because we might give her away if we can’t help her.

To "cull" simply means to remove from the flock. It can mean kill, sell or give away. It's perfectly fine to cull a bird that's no longer working in your flock. The good of the whole flock needs to be considered, along with what keeping that bird may cost you. If she's stressing the other chickens so they're not laying, it's costing you money to feed non productive chickens for nothing in return. If she's injuring them, you may have treatment costs. If she's attacking people, she's a liability. If she scratches someone and causes an infection, that's going to cost the school. These are all things that one needs to consider when trying to decide if they should keep or cull any animal.

 

[Lickety split]

A 3x3' coop is not nearly enough room for 4 full grown hens. Recommended minimum space is 4' square per bird inside, and 10 square feet per bird in the run. These are merely recommendations, and not a hard and fast rule. But over crowding can cause bad habits like feather picking to occur. Here is a good article by Ridgerunner on space for chickens:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-much-room-do-chickens-need.66180/

If they're not out free ranging, they need food available at all times. Not enough protein will also cause feather picking. Tell your teacher to use the PVC feeder - it will reduce feed waste.


To "cull" simply means to remove from the flock. It can mean kill, sell or give away. It's perfectly fine to cull a bird that's no longer working in your flock. The good of the whole flock needs to be considered, along with what keeping that bird may cost you. If she's stressing the other chickens so they're not laying, it's costing you money to feed non productive chickens for nothing in return. If she's injuring them, you may have treatment costs. If she's attacking people, she's a liability. If she scratches someone and causes an infection, that's going to cost the school. These are all things that one needs to consider when trying to decide if they should keep or cull any animal.

The 3x3 thing was just a really dumb assumption and now that i think about it thats not large and makes no sense. Maybe 6x6 but again i’ll get measurements Friday. And she’s getting bullied, not bullying the chickens. Se hasn’t attacked anyone but us and my friend, but the liability reason is worrying.