Hens pecking each others butts

[Amorette_Artist]

A friend of mine has over 40 chickens, one of them being a rooster. She came out one morning and about 10 of the hens were bleeding from peck wounds. We cleaned them up and I know she has enough room for them so I'm wondering if she doesn't have enough roosters to break up the hens fighting. Please let me know because I wanna hell save her hens. If I can, ill get pictures

 

[Eggcessive]

How much room do they have, and what is she feeding them? Do thry get outside to roam around in a large area? Hens do not need a rooster period to keep them from pecking each other. Vent pecking is caused by a number of possible things. Overcrowding (less than 4 square feet in a coop and more in a run,) not getting outside to free range where they can get away from each other, not enough protein in the diet, agressive breeds, too much light in where they lay eggs. They can suffer a prolapse where red tissue comes outside the vent, and others may go into a frenzy pecking the red. I would recommend feeding a good balanced 16-20% protein feed as the biggest part of their diet. Your friend should spend some time with them observing their behavior. Remove any injured birds and separate them. Look for a bully, and separate her (or him.)

Here is a good article pointing out possible reasons for pecking:
https://poultry.extension.org/artic...ibalism-in-small-and-backyard-poultry-flocks/

 

[Amorette_Artist]

How much room do they have, and what is she feeding them? Do thry get outside to roam around in a large area? Hens do not need a rooster period to keep them from pecking each other. Vent pecking is caused by a number of possible things. Overcrowding (less than 4 square feet in a coop and more in a run,) not getting outside to free range where they can get away from each other, not enough protein in the diet, agressive breeds, too much light in where they lay eggs. They can suffer a prolapse where red tissue comes outside the vent, and others may go into a frenzy pecking the red. I would recommend feeding a good balanced 16-20% protein feed as the biggest part of their diet. Your friend should spend some time with them observing their behavior. Remove any injured birds and separate them. Look for a bully, and separate her (or him.)

Here is a good article pointing out possible reasons for pecking:
https://poultry.extension.org/artic...ibalism-in-small-and-backyard-poultry-flocks/

So the question is how much room do they have and what am I feeding them they have an area I'd say anywhere from 200 one way to 500 feet the other plus their coop and I feed them layer pellets and layer crumbs mixed with happy hen always bought the tractor supply. And I bought them that bag of scratch grain called country roads from rule King on Friday and within two days of them eating it this is what had occurred and I didn't know what it was from - The answers are from the friend. But I will say her coop is kinda small for over 40 chickens

 

[Eggcessive]

40 chickens would require 160 square feet of coop space. It sounds like they have plenty of room outdoors. Some will peck each other if they are not let out early in the mornings. Layer feed has enough protein at 15-17% protein, but all flock has more at 20%. Scratch grains has only 7% so it dilutes the protein up in the layer feed. Mealworms is good for protein. So I would limit the scratch grains to only a small treat or not give it at all. Mine do love a little treat.

I would tell her to spend some time with them to find out why they are pecking. She may need to increase the coop size, or rehome some chickens. They can get bored if they spend too much time in the coop without room to get away or things that they can climb on. With the injured vents, I would keep them clean, and she can spray some Vetericyn on them.

 

[Amorette_Artist]

40 chickens would require 160 square feet of coop space. It sounds like they have plenty of room outdoors. Some will peck each other if they are not let out early in the mornings. Layer feed has enough protein at 15-17% protein, but all flock has more at 20%. Scratch grains has only 7% so it dilutes the protein up in the layer feed. Mealworms is good for protein. So I would limit the scratch grains to only a small treat or not give it at all. Mine do love a little treat.

I would tell her to spend some time with them to find out why they are pecking. She may need to increase the coop size, or rehome some chickens. They can get bored if they spend too much time in the coop without room to get away or things that they can climb on. With the injured vents, I would keep them clean, and she can spray some Vetericyn on them.

Thank you so much. I will reply again when she messages me back.
Do you think that getting rid of the rooster would be fine?

 

[Eggcessive]

It doesn’t matter unless she sees that he might be pecking the hens. She could separate him his own digs for awhile. If he is not causing the problems, then she shouldn’t separate him. Roosters are good to break up squabbles, but some may be aggressive to hens who do not want them to mate them. I love having a rooster around, but they are not necessary to get eggs. I have had to rehome a couple of hens before who were more aggressive breeds. It is nice to have a calm flock, so I don’t tolerate bullies or mean roosters.