How long will this bullying behavior last?

[kaylee gee]

Type peepers into the search engine here on BYC & on Google & you'll get more info, but basically, peepers (a.k.a. pinless peepers)are little "sunglasses" (

...that's what they look like, they're really just blinders) that clip to the birds nostrils on its beak. The "lens area" is opaque plastic & blocks the bird's frontal view, so it can only see peripherally. This inhibits attacks and feather plucking on other birds. Works well. Some say it's a bit painful for the bird when applying them & if they hit them on something, but the bird adapts & its better than having a tormented or dead bird, IMO.
After a couple weeks, you remove them & see if the bird's behavior has changed towards it's flock mate. If not, back on they go! I've even heard of people using them permanently. But, at that point, maybe a cull of the flock would be better... Dunno.

All I know is I have a feather plucker right now... Likes to pluck the neck feathers on two of my other birds & I'm about to order these & see if they work!

ETA: Just bought some off eBay. Got 10 for $4...$6.20 w/ shipping. Also found them online in pkg of 100 for $20. Hope they get here soon...my chickens are gonna need scarves if they don't! lol...

if you google it, google "chicken peepers"! i just googled "peepers" and got an eyeful! not what i wanted to see!

 

[docjim]

Our pecking order seems to change as each of our girls begin to lay. When they were pullets we had a "normal" pecking order, now as soon as a pullet becomes a layer the dominant ones start pecking her......is this a typical "hen club" initiation or what????

 

[HiddenChicken]

if you google it, google "chicken peepers"! i just googled "peepers" and got an eyeful! not what i wanted to see!

Oh, no! whoops... I never got the "peepshow," so I must've googled "pinless peepers!" Soooo sorry!!

 

[HiddenChicken]

Our pecking order seems to change as each of our girls begin to lay. When they were pullets we had a "normal" pecking order, now as soon as a pullet becomes a layer the dominant ones start pecking her......is this a typical "hen club" initiation or what????

Don't know about that... I have not experienced that, but I'm a total newbie, so....my experience means nothing! lol... My girls changed "top hen" three times before it was all settled. But none of it was around the start of their egg laying. It was more about size & moxy, I think!

BUT! Yesterday I found my first egg! (they are 35 weeks old, discounting the pullet) And of course it was the red who laid it. She has not had an aggressive bone in her body since she laid that first egg. The pullet is even sitting under the coop for shade with the rest of the flock, something she was never allowed to do before!

My girls have definitely become nicer to me & I can more easily catch them since they've been laying--the egg squat and all. But I've noticed no difference in the way the girls treat each other. Hence, the peepers. :/ Maybe your Red has just decided to accept the new pullet now. But the timing of that is suspicious. Well, egg laying is a hormonal thing, so maybe she just mellowed out!

 

[PrairieChickens]

i feel your pain! in July i hatched out an americauna chick, a pullet. i introduced her to my existing flock when she was about 4 months old (there was a fox problem before that, so she stayed in an enclosure in the house, which is why she is the only really friendly one). the two Cochin hens (undeniably the "lead hens" in the flock) and the bantam Cochin rooster had no problem with her at all. however, my new Hampshire red hen was so aggressive that my little pullet was constantly trying to fly the coop. i had so many problems with that hen that she was going to be eaten for thanksgiving, and i was about to have to make a separate coop for my pullet. (the red would not allow the pullet into the coop at night, wouldn't let her eat or drink, unless i was standing there).

BUT! Yesterday I found my first egg! (they are 35 weeks old, discounting the pullet) And of course it was the red who laid it. She has not had an aggressive bone in her body since she laid that first egg. The pullet is even sitting under the coop for shade with the rest of the flock, something she was never allowed to do before!

So what you're saying is, she just needed to get laid?

Forgive me, I couldn't resist.

 

[karlamaria]

I had two astrolorps that would pick on my chickens all day long, I got sick of it and moved them to my moms for the summer, then this fall back home and yep they went right at it again, beating up on all the chickens. I will not deal with 2 witches that will notify nice, off they went to a new home. It's get along or get out. I put eggs under my broodys to hatch out, I do not have a rooster so I buy fertilized eggs for 3.00 a dozen from a local gal. This way they grow up in the mix and play well together. Adding to a already established coop can be very hard. It took me all summer to get my girls to play nice with the pullets I ordered. Of course those two girls are gone lol. The pullets turned out to be the best egg layers! RIR and EE spells awesome egg layers!

 

[KnobbyOaks]

Got 8 5-weeks old chicks and I have noticed lately that one (the smallest one, of course) has been picking on all the others. This evening I noticed that she was relentlessly picking on one particular one who apparently had a hole pecked in her wing. I quickly reassembled a tub, got the injured chick out and shot her with Blue-kote, gave her food and water in the brooder tub. She was not happy. I came on here and searched for what to do with the pecker. There was lots of info on what to do for the peckee but only one reference to the abuser. That was to put some toys in the the coop to give them something to do. LOL Okay, I will play along. I found a big orange jingle bell pumpkin and put some red yard in a plastic water bottle. Not sure what else to do. It was dark by this time so I'm not sure if the aggressor will find a new target or what. This one has always been the runt and was never picked on herself. Anyone have any suggestions on what to do to break the pecker?

 

[HiddenChicken]

So what you're saying is, she just needed to get laid?

Forgive me, I couldn't resist.

BWAHAHAHAHA!!!! Just spit my coffee....

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Just an update in case anyone reads this & wants to know how the peepers worked... And, BTW, I had two pickers--my top hen was doing the pecking-order thing & making lots of scabs on the others' combs, & my leghorn was the neck feather picker.

So, the peepers...so far, so good!

No further feather loss has occurred. Shut that feather picking *right* down! Both birds are growing their feathers back...my Ameraucana is getting her beard again! Yay!

And, my top hen is no longer so mean to her underlings.
So, in short, the pinless peepers worked a (small) miracle & are doing what they're supposed to. No more picking, pecking, or feather eating... I'll keep them on for the suggested time (3 months) & probably through the winter to prevent "coop boredom" problems, since they've already demonstrated the propensity to pick/peck on each other.

I'm so glad they worked for you! They've worked miracles in our flock,too. We actually had a hen killed before we bought the first batch of peepers, but we haven't even had blood drawn since. We just use them at the first sign of trouble.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Got 8 5-weeks old chicks and I have noticed lately that one (the smallest one, of course) has been picking on all the others. This evening I noticed that she was relentlessly picking on one particular one who apparently had a hole pecked in her wing. I quickly reassembled a tub, got the injured chick out and shot her with Blue-kote, gave her food and water in the brooder tub. She was not happy. I came on here and searched for what to do with the pecker. There was lots of info on what to do for the peckee but only one reference to the abuser. That was to put some toys in the the coop to give them something to do. LOL Okay, I will play along. I found a big orange jingle bell pumpkin and put some red yard in a plastic water bottle. Not sure what else to do. It was dark by this time so I'm not sure if the aggressor will find a new target or what. This one has always been the runt and was never picked on herself. Anyone have any suggestions on what to do to break the pecker?

Read from the top of the threat. Buy some pinless peeper and put them on the offending bird. Randall Burkey sells them, they are a BYC sponsor.