Help! Pecking Problem!

[dvfd236]

I have 10 chicks about 6 weeks old. I usually let them out of their coop once a day since the weather has been nice but watching them closely since they are still young. This morning i noticed 2 of the hens have bloody rear ends and the other chicks seem to keep pecking at them. I have isolated the 2 chickens with the bloody rear's and noticed one of the other hens was going around pecking all the others. My first question is will the anti-peck stuff i keep reading about work to fix this issue and if in case the one chick is bullying what do i do to fix that?


Thanks.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It should help. Have you checked them for mites? If they don't have any issues like that It sounds like they're bored. Too little space can be a problem. Are they roosting yet? If roosts are staggered in height but too close together chickens will peck the vents of the birds above.

 

[Kitty990]

this is want i have seen others say about bullies:

remove the bully for a couple of day about seven. the rest of the chick will make a new pecking order. then re-introduce the bully and she will have to find her new place in the pecking order. if you see blood remove her again.

i am still new too and i am trying to work out mixing two flocks into one flock. so i am having bullying problems too.

 

[dvfd236]

As a matter of fact i just installed a staggered roosting pole last night. Havent had any problems until today. I bet that is what is causing it.

Thanks!

 

[dvfd236]

Purchased Peck-No-More by Rooster Booster. Seems to have fixed the problem.

Thanks for the help!

 

[CrazyChick4]

I hav four hens and I got them in october 2012 then they were around 20-21 weeks old. One of them (the oldest) is pecking the feathers from the others bottoms. What wud u recommend? Ther is no blood but she eats some of the feathers.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Feather eating is often a need for more protein. Cut out treats and scratch for a while and up the protein. Mix in some grower feed or in place of usual treats or scraps give some tuna, yogurt, meat/fish scraps, meal worms, etc..
After the situation corrects keep scratch to under 10% of the total intake. Add some BOSS to the scratch grains as it is much higher in protein, vitamins and minerals than grain.

 

[CrazyChick4]

Thank you. We do give them alot of mixed corn! We'll stop it for a while. When u say scraps do u mean things like veg peelings and bits of cheese n cucumber n lettuce? Coz they get alot of that sort of thing too.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Growing birds need at least 18% protein, grown birds at least 15%. If their diet contains anything other than feed of those percentages then you need to give a higher percentage protein feed.
Corn and most grains are only about 10% protein so if half of their diet is corn and they are getting a 16% layer feed then their total intake is 13%. That's not enough to maintain a body and you get feather eaters because feathers are over 90% protein.
By scraps I mean kitchen scraps. They're omnivorous and can eat anything we do but some things aren't good for them just like humans eat a lot of things that aren't good for them either.
Stay away from bread or other salty things.

 

[CrazyChick4]

Do u no y only one hen is eating the others feathers? Surely if it was a protein problem the others wud be doing the same? Thanks.