wannabevet
Hatching
Hi. I have 26 chickens, 2 are roosters (one being a silkie and the other a standard cochin) and various breeds of hens. My chicken coop is 8x10 with two runs running north and south both runs are also approximately 8x10 each, I have 6 nesting boxes, 2 water feeders indoors, one outdoor water feeder, and 4 pipe crumble dispensers. Those are the specifics anyway I have a HUGE pecking problem in my flock. About half of my hens are going bald by their back end. First I was blaming the rooster and maybe the winter boredom. However, I came home after a errand today and found my cochin rooster was bleeding and half of his feathers were gone of his legs and feet. I don't know what to do anymore. I have provided enrichment such as throw straw in there runs and throwing dried worms and scratch in it, I let them free range along my property when I am able to supervise, and I even made toys where I cut holes in plastic bottles and fill them with scratch and dried worms. I think the problem is getting worse. I also switched their crumble feed from a tractor supply diet to a more protein and calcium laiden diet that I can get at the grain elevator. My husband thinks I am stressing them out more because today I separated the chickens. I split them into two groups ones with the huge feather loss and the ones who aren't losing feathers as badly or not at all. Myy coop has a divider where I can do this. Thoughts? Should I have not separated them? Should I process my cochin rooster? Should I invest in anti feather pecking spray? Ugh.... Help!!!
