Help please!!!

Date sort Score sort
Shaymarie

Shaymarie

Hatching
5 Years
Joined
May 3, 2014
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
7
Hello! We have 14 chickens , some buff orphs , some tetra tin , and some white leghorns. Somehow we ended up with 1 Cornish Rock . She is the sweetest thing but she is constantly being pecked at by the other chickens. I don't know why?? So much that she hardly has any feathers left on her rear end! It breaks my heart and I don't know what to do. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
 
Hi and welcome.
Some questions - how old are your chickens? Did you obtain all of the chickens at the same time? What is the environment they are currently kept it - size, indoor/outdoor, etc? How long has the picking been going on?
 
The chicks are about 6 weeks old and we got them at the same time. They are kept in a very large coop with about 1,100 square foot run and are free ranged during the day . I just noticed the pecking in the past couple of days.
 
images


Welcome to BYC!

Give the Cornish a good exam from beak to tail. Sometimes the flock knows there is something wrong with one of the members and this is their way of protecting the flock by trying to run her off if she is sick. So look for anything that might be ailing this bird....mites, bacterial infections, worms, lameness, just anything. If you feel she is healthy enough, you need to find out who is starting the aggression and separate them out for a few weeks. Hopefully to re organize the flock. If this doesn't work, you might consider pinless peepers on the meany. These will not allow the bird to aim and point the beak. They can however, see up, down and to the side. But not directly in front of them. They can eat, drink and free range just fine. I have a hen that needed to wear these on and off for almost 3 years. She was aggressive with the other hens. Kept her from hurting them.

Good luck with your flock. And welcome to ours!
 
Do you know that Cornish x are meat birds and do not live very long, even if you don't intend to process them. The are bred to eat like pigs, grow rapidly and be ready to slaughter at an early age.
The rapid growth and weight wears out their organs - sometimes if you can restrict their eating and force them into exercise (moving feed dish farther and farther away) it can slow them down somewhat so their life is extended.
 
Thanks. Yes I know that we will have to process her eventually but I'm not ready for that yet! But if the bullying doesn't stop we might have to. I just am curious why they are pecking her like this.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom