How do I get a chickens to stop pecking??

[TriangleMaster9]

So I have 4 chickens, one Buff Orpington, One Black Sexlink, One Gold/White Sexlink, and a Rhode Island Red.
The RIR, kim, (nicknamed pecker) has been very agressive pecking Nugget (G/W Sexlink) and C.C. (B Sexlink). It starred with nugget, who is the smallest, and has been pecked pretty bad and is still being pecked, and C.C. hadn't been pecked as bad, but alittle bit ago I went out and part of skin was exposed and bleeding alittle bit. And it's recent too, a few hours ago when I got home she was ok. I tried putting salt in their water in the morning, and changing it in the afternoon, and nothing so far, but then again, I just started today, and we separating Kim now. Any suggustions?

 

[Gargoyle]

some people have had good luck putting blue kote on the wounds; it helps the healing, and they hate the taste so it might stop the pecking; however, when I had a hen pecking the others, it slowed her down a little but didn't stop her.

Also, note that even if you wear rubber gloves and an apron you'll probably get some of the stuff on you.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/137269/a-warning-about-blue-kote

Pinless Peepers are another solution. But first, make sure the diet is good, they have enough space and aren't bored. Otherwise any of those could cause problems.

 

[TriangleMaster9]

I don't think they're bored, they might be a little crowded,but I swear, she is like a pecker the bone. We separated her and she won't shut up, fortunately there is a person local who raise RIRs is it comes to that. But, poor C.C. Was more scared than anything, she would go inside the coop, until I shooed her in there and closed the door, and then she realized that pecker wasn't there. I have look at blue kote and am going to get some and hope that works.

 

[ChickSter99]

I have a barred rock, Peck-Peck, that I had the worst time with when it came to pecking.
I'm talking from the time she was a week old until she was about 5 weeks old or so. She terrorized the brooder. I would go check on her & her sisters and there would be tail feathers missing, pecks on the head, relentless chasing. It was torture for the other chicks. Long story short, I got a cat carrier and put some pine chips in the bottom along with food & water & in went Peck-Peck (still in sight of her sisters since they are flock animals). She screeched and thew a fit to be back in the brooder. The ones that had been pecked were sprayed with HotPick & also Blu Kote. Peck-Peck spent the night in the carrier & I would try to give her a chance in the brooder. She still took off after the others and mean momma was there to stick her right back in isolation. Eventually, the time it took for her to tear off after them reduced. I considered the peeps for her but she was so small I didn't want to do that to her. I was very persistent about the separation when she started misbehaving.

Peck-Peck is now 16 weeks old & is my dominant pullet but she no longer terrorises the flock. Instead she now hogs the rooster, Bruce. No one is even allowed to roost beside him except for her or they get a swift peck.
They were never pressed for space but she did settle down when I put them in the coop/run along with letting them free range about an hour a day. She is also one of the friendliest pullets I have.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to write a book for you about Peck-Peck. Hope everything works out.

 

[TriangleMaster9]

I sad I had to do this, but we had to get rid of Kim, she was being super agressice so I finally gave up... Fortunately there is a women who lives near me who raises chickens and loves RIR's and was happy to take ours. I'm am sad I had to but I think it was for the best, they all don't have to live in fear and I think 4 was just to many for how much space there was. But they're good now, and today we got our first 3 for 3 egg day! 2 of them were in the same nesting box. Good Job girls! We celebrated with some banana slices! Boy did they like that!

 

[Gargoyle]

Clearly the right move, the three are feeling safer and rewarding you with eggs.

 

[TriangleMaster9]

Ok we thought we had solved the problem but one of our chickens who got pecked the most wasn't healing and appeared to be getting worse. I decided to spy on them for a little to find nugget, the littlest on of the flock is pecking her. We decided to get some "rooster booster, anti canibalism stuff and I put that on and now she hasn't stopped! In fact just just expanded her bald spot and now she started eating up on my little buttercup too! And buttercup knows to peck back every once and a while but she won't lay off either of them! I don't want to get rid of another chicken and I would like to isolate them all from each other but I only have enough to isolate one apart from the rest. I'm worried that if I take CC out to heal up, nugget will hurt buttercup more, and if I take Buttercup away, nugget will have a clear shot at CC, and if I take nugget away Buttercup might hurt CC because I have seen her peck her once. What do I do????

 

[donrae]

You mentioned at first they might be overcrowded. How many birds do you have and how much space?

 

[Trefoil]

I haven't had a pecking problem yet. So this is just from what I've read and observed. Overcrowding and nutrient deficiency are the 2 most probably causes of pecking.

 

[TriangleMaster9]

They might be over crowded, they have a 4x4 coop and a 5x4 run. Theres only three of them though. They have water and food. Their water has probiotics and we feed them vegetables and stuff sometimes too.