Help - bad chicken behavior

[peaceonearth]

Hi! I was on your website looking at poultry issues. I have read the section under cannibalism. I have a sweet underweight Cochin that has been bullied unmercilessly (and has an open wound) by my other 6 hens. They have a large 8x10 coop and 8x15 run. They have plenty of space, food etc. The only thing that stands out is they are all different breeds.

My two hens (a super blue egged from my petchicken and barred rock) have pulled feathers also from two other birds in my flock. My question..should I nurse the Cochin (separately from the others...which I am doing now) and try to reintroduce her back in flock or rehome the two top birds? We are at our wits end and don't know what to do.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Hillaire]

ugh I hate feather pluckers... I have had a mixed bag of success when it comes to this issue... I have added higher % protein feed with and without success I have added more things to play on (outdoor roosts, logs, leaves) with success. Sometimes though... they just want to yank feathers out... I have only had to sell one with the pre notion to the buyer of her behavior. Keep that cochin separated until she heals and bring her back to the flock... if they get nasty with her you will have to do the reintroduction methods as stated all throughout the site here... good luck feather plucking is no fun.

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings, peaceonearth, and

! Great to have you with us! In the following link there are some articles on integrating chickens as well as bullying behavior among chickens. Hope they help: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/maintaining-a-healthy-flock
Best wishes and thanks for joining BYC!!

 

[Teila]

G’Day from down under peaceonearth

Welcome!

Feather pecking/eating was a Topic of the Week in the past and you may find this thread helpful: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1148824/topic-of-the-week-feather-pecking-eating

I hope you enjoy being a BYC member. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun.

You might want to also pop in and say hello on your local thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/26/where-am-i-where-are-you ‘Find your State’s thread.

If you would like to share pictures and stories of your flock, you have come to the right place. BYC’ers never tire of these and do not back away slowly or commence eye rolling when the photo album or home videos come out

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC. I'd suggest reading through the link given by Teila and trying a suite of changes - usually one intervention alone, will not do the trick. It's a case of trial and error though.

Best wishes
CT

 

[drumstick diva]

Please remove the cochin before they end up killing it. When chickens see blood/red, they go nuts. You can put Blu-kote on her wounds so they won't look red but, the bullies will still recognize her. If the cochin has a friend in the flock that doesn't bully her, I would put both of them together . I have very low tolerance for any "bad acting," animals of any kind. I'd either rehome the baddies with explanation "why," or ?????

You could try putting pinless peepers on the bad ones, it prevents from seeing straight ahead so their aim is off. They probably will annoy the meanies just enough to make them forget about the cochin. Put "pinless peepers," in the search box to read all about them.