Hen pecked

[CrazyChookz]

Welcome to BYC! Enjoy the site and don't hesitate to ask about any queries.

 

[Book Em Danno25]

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! Blu-Kote is available at most feed stores (sometimes in the horse section) or you can find it online at places like Amazon.

 

[JulieAGill]

I actually got some other stuff that is purple, it's to discourage pecking but also an antibiotic. I also got oral antibiotics that I mix with their water. Their wounds are already looking better since this morning. They are confined together but separate from the others.

 

[Eldergoddess]

- Add lots of roosts to your coop that way they all can get off the ground and a still be away from each other. Also add roosts out in your run. I have found that 2"x4"s make GREAT chicken roosts. Stop by Lowes or Home Depot and check the cull pile. Normally you will find some 2x4s in there that aren't useable for framing or building but will work just fine for roosts.

- Bag Balm (horse and cattle section of the feed store) heals wounds up very fast. I had a girl that I thought might die from her very deep wounds and if she lived would leave a massive scar. Healed great in a week and no scaring. (bag balm is also good for your wounds too, just get another tin of it for yourself)

- Hang a CD just out of reach so that they have to jump in order to try and peck it.

- Make sure your nesting boxes are dark(ish), away from any windows. This way the other birds wont see the shiny part of the hens vent who is laying the egg and will be lest tempted to peck her. (I use 5 gallon buckets from Home Depot, easy to clean, bug free, and even my fat Delawares can fit)

- Find out who is the bad girl and put her in "chicken jail" away from the other hens. So they can't see or really hear each other. Keep her away for at lest a week if not two and when you bring her back into the flock she will be the bird getting pecked because she is low hen on the roost.

- Make sure your coop is big enough for your girls, I have a 12' x 9' coop (108sq feet) and have 14 hens. You want at lest 4 sq feet per bird, if they have a run or free range. If they are coop bound then 10 sq feet per bird. I have 7.72 sq feet per hen. Its a good medium because some days they can't go out side because of the weather, but most days they free range over 5 aces. Once I add my run I will have a total of 204sq feet for my girls. You don't really need to go this big BUT build the biggest coop/run that you can, that way if you end up adopting more chickens or buying more you have the room.

- Some hens just wont get along no matter what you do. If that is the case then you should think about either re homing the offending pecker or the one being pecked.

- Make sure your girls are in good health, a round of medicated water and worming meds should clear anything up. Sick chickens are grumpy chickens.

- Since your already going to remodel your hen house. If you don't already have one I would put a poop door in this allows you to push the bedding out and allows for faster cleaning. Also put in steel (what I have) or kitchen flooring (what most people use) down instead of plan wood. This will also make cleaning faster and less of a head ache.

- Double check that your cleaning your coop, even if your using the deep litter method, make sure it doesn't smell like ammonia. If you can smell ammonia its time to clean the coop or risk your birds lungs.

I know that covers more than what you where asking about, but there is my two cents worth about what I have learned my first year of keeping hens. I had flock pecking order problems because I had some younger girls (who where getting bullied) by my oldest and biggest girls. I didn't want to re home any of my pets so when the fair rolled around I carted everyone off for 5 days at the fair. It removed them from home so they where all in new territory and since everyone lived in their own cage it buggered their pecking order up. So when I brought them home, they all had to get the pecking order back in line and that fixed my problem of my young hens getting bullied by the older.

Bottom line is sometimes you can't stop a hen from bulling another, and when that happens you have to re home (or eat) said bird. But I have found that it takes about 2 weeks for hens to get their pecking order figured out once everyone knows their place they can all live together no problem.

Get those two girls healed up and figure out who your problem child is, once you do that you can either try the "chicken jail" method or find her a new home. Someone always starts it and once they see the blood the others will join in. You MUST keep a close watch on them because they will kill the pecked hen.

Hope this helps in some way.

 

[NickyKnack]

Welcome to the BYC family! It's frustrating sometimes. Good luck with your girls.

Glad you joined the BYC flock.

 

[JulieAGill]

Eldergoddess, I actually know which one that did the pecking. She is also the one who laid the first egg the other day. She has always been the alpha chicken and would slightly peck without causing wounds. Last Saturday they were freaked out because my husband had to cut down part of a tree right behind their coop. He was using a chain saw, stuff was falling on top of their coop which has a metal roof and they were pretty scared. Two days later is when I noticed one had been pecked at, then later in the day noticed the second. I have confined the wounded ones , put up a treat thing for them to peck at, but will try the cd also. I'll pick up some bag balm to keep on hand and since we are going to Home Depot today I'll see about the wood. I have kitchen flooring in their house and it will go in the new part too. Our current coop is 6 feet by 7 feet. We are adding 4 feet of house, putting in the roosting boxes off the side so as not to take away from house space. The run itself will be 4 foot longer and part of it 4 foot wider. Up until this week we really haven't had major problems with the pecking, but they have been going into their hen house earlier too because of it getting dark earlier. I did find that if there is a light on in the run area they do come out so I think I will put it on a timer.
The two wounded ones like I mentioned are getting oral antibiotics and I'm putting antibiotic on their wounds. When we start the remodel I will be completely removing them and putting them in a different location in the yard.
Thanks for the information though. It is all very helpful.