Help, Layers always fighting!

[Dephora]

Also, if you use a shovel with holes in it, so sand goes through and poop stays on the shovel. You can clean a whole room in less than 20 minutes, and not need to replace the bedding. Saving the poop would be a smart idea, that way you will not only have eggs and meat to sell, but you can sell the manure(poop) to farms as fertilizer. In fact, sometimes collecting the poop as fertilizer can be pretty profitable!

Edit: I also want to say that many fish farms are usually interested in buying chicken manure for a good price. As they often use it to feed fish with, or feed their worm farms to feed their fish, or to feed the pond to get more zooplankton. No matter how they do it, they usually want chicken poop!

 

[reelmza]

I use sand in my coop as well. It is a very good bedding material because it dries very quick. Moisture or wet bedding is what causes bad health problems. I change it completely once a year. I rake the poop out daily. In a coop with good ventilation and drainage you could do 10-12 cm. But if you are going for along time between raking/cleaning or the air flow is bad you should do even deeper. 25-30 cm.

thanks ma! I'd do that today and look for changes, i will get back to you all after 2 weeks

 

[reelmza]

Also, if you use a shovel with holes in it, so sand goes through and poop stays on the shovel. You can clean a whole room in less than 20 minutes, and not need to replace the bedding. Saving the poop would be a smart idea, that way you will not only have eggs and meat to sell, but you can sell the manure(poop) to farms as fertilizer. In fact, sometimes collecting the poop as fertilizer can be pretty profitable!

Edit: I also want to say that many fish farms are usually interested in buying chicken manure for a good price. As they often use it to feed fish with, or feed their worm farms to feed their fish, or to feed the pond to get more zooplankton. No matter how they do it, they usually want chicken poop!

yes here its almost a desert so few people do fishes. but many groundnut and maize farmers buy chicken poop. so still lucky

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Hello @reelmza so happy you joined Backyard chickens from Northeast Nigeria! You said you have chickens for commercial purposes, would you tell us more about that? Do you sell eggs, meat or live chickens?

 

[reelmza]

Hello @reelmza so happy you joined Backyard chickens from Northeast Nigeria! You said you have chickens for commercial purposes, would you tell us more about that? Do you sell eggs, meat or live chickens?

Yes sir, i sell the eggs from the layers and i sell the layers too when they get old for meat lol, i used to bring up broilers but the weather is always hot here so they all die most of the time.

So now am a full time layers guy

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Yes sir, i sell the eggs from the layers and i sell the layers too when they get old for meat lol, i used to bring up broilers but the weather is always hot here so they all die most of the time.

So now am a full time layers guy

That's very nice. I was wondering if you could make any money selling the young layers and setting up other people to also sell eggs?

 

[reelmza]

That's very nice. I was wondering if you could make any money selling the young layers and setting up other people to also sell eggs?

yes but that would need brooding equipments and other stuff, i dont have that mucj money for now. but hoping

 

[BigBlueHen53]

yes but that would need brooding equipments and other stuff, i dont have that mucj money for now. but hoping

I see. Thanks. Good luck to you!

 

[Nova Scotia Homestead]

Hello realmza.

1)Your chickens are fighting because they do not have enough space. In your picture.... There are too many chickens in that room. You must cut the flock in half. And that is how many chickens can be in that room. BUT....IF YOU BUILD MANYROOSTS.....then you can have more chickens in the room.
Your chickens will fight to the death of it is not done properly. They will kill eachother. They are competing for space, comfort, and food. The aggressive behaviour will get worse. And the aggressive chickens will also teach the other chickens to be aggressive as well. Act fast...before the damage gets worse.

2) All chickens must have roosts/perches. This is not an option. This is absolutely required.
Look on Google for easy perch ideas. You DO NOT need to spend money.
You can even use trees and large branches from outside to make roosts/perches. But you must make them properly. The perches give them more space. And also....they make the chickens feel safe and less stressed....they have a natural instinct to sit up on a perch...off the ground, to stay safe from predators. I understand there are no predators there.....but the chickens do not understand that. It is a natural instinct...and they absolutely need the roosts/perches. If you provide the proper amount of perches for the chickens...this will also help with their aggression. It will lower their stress and aggression.

3) if the chickens do not have access to the outside ground(alot of space outside)... Then you must build a sand box....or a dirt box. This is another mandatory thing for chickens. You MUST have it. You must allow them to dig and scratch in the sand box or dirt box. Again....this is a natural instinct. If you do not allow them to have this ...they will get stressed....it can also make them aggressive. Build the box to lower stress levels and lower aggression.

4) Use Hay or straw on the ground of your coop. If you do not have access to Hay or straw....use long grass from outside that has been completely dried out. It must be completely dry before you use it or it can grow mold and make your chickens sick. If you do this....it will help your chickens feet. Your coop can not be wet.....if there is too much urine....or too much water...on the ground....then you must fix this problem as well.

Please let us know how it goes.

If you do everything correctly you should start seeing positive results with the aggression in the chickens within 2 weeks. And after a month.....most of the aggression should be gone. Let us know if you need people to show you pictures of proper coop space....proper roosts/perches ....and proper bedding.
Everyone would be happy to show you pictures.

 

[reelmza]

Hello realmza.

1)Your chickens are fighting because they do not have enough space. In your picture.... There are too many chickens in that room. You must cut the flock in half. And that is how many chickens can be in that room. BUT....IF YOU BUILD MANYROOSTS.....then you can have more chickens in the room.
Your chickens will fight to the death of it is not done properly. They will kill eachother. They are competing for space, comfort, and food. The aggressive behaviour will get worse. And the aggressive chickens will also teach the other chickens to be aggressive as well. Act fast...before the damage gets worse.

2) All chickens must have roosts/perches. This is not an option. This is absolutely required.
Look on Google for easy perch ideas. You DO NOT need to spend money.
You can even use trees and large branches from outside to make roosts/perches. But you must make them properly. The perches give them more space. And also....they make the chickens feel safe and less stressed....they have a natural instinct to sit up on a perch...off the ground, to stay safe from predators. I understand there are no predators there.....but the chickens do not understand that. It is a natural instinct...and they absolutely need the roosts/perches. If you provide the proper amount of perches for the chickens...this will also help with their aggression. It will lower their stress and aggression.

3) if the chickens do not have access to the outside ground(alot of space outside)... Then you must build a sand box....or a dirt box. This is another mandatory thing for chickens. You MUST have it. You must allow them to dig and scratch in the sand box or dirt box. Again....this is a natural instinct. If you do not allow them to have this ...they will get stressed....it can also make them aggressive. Build the box to lower stress levels and lower aggression.

4) Use Hay or straw on the ground of your coop. If you do not have access to Hay or straw....use long grass from outside that has been completely dried out. It must be completely dry before you use it or it can grow mold and make your chickens sick. If you do this....it will help your chickens feet. Your coop can not be wet.....if there is too much urine....or too much water...on the ground....then you must fix this problem as well.

Please let us know how it goes.

If you do everything correctly you should start seeing positive results with the aggression in the chickens within 2 weeks. And after a month.....most of the aggression should be gone. Let us know if you need people to show you pictures of proper coop space....proper roosts/perches ....and proper bedding.
Everyone would be happy to show you pictures.

Thanks for the idea nova, i will try and do all these you stated. o have already, reduced the population of the room and put it some dirt too, i will try and make the roost for them tomorrow.

thank you very much!