I am a new Member! I have a lot of questions.

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shadowfox said:
Will you please post the link to your new thread when you get it up?
My hens have been having the same pecking problem. One is missing a bunch of feathers just in front of her tail. Another has been pecked at so much that her comb is bloody and scabbed up.
I'm interested in what other have to say about it.

Good luck!
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I am not sure how to do this but I posted it on the emergency category. It is there under pecking chickens. I really love my chickens and would like to see that they heal. Thanks! Emmanuelle
 
My thinking exactly N F C, 32sg ft for 11 hens is potentially the show stopper if they are confined and do not free range. If your chicken are active breeds they will not tolerate being squeezed in like that. How much roost space in linear feet do you have? That could be part of the problem too if it is only 8ft in length 12ft is the minimum for 11-12 Hens. Best wishes and welcome to BYC!:frow:welcome
 
Greetings and welcome to BYC Emmanuelle! So glad you joined us. I hate to say this but it is MHO that you have a multitude of issues going on here. I'll start with the first most obvious... you have too many chickens in too small a coop.

You say your coop is the size of a 4x8 sheet of plywood. Is that outside or inside measure? Chickens really need ~4 square feet of space each inside. Yours have less than 3. This doesn't take into account other items in the coop that use space like waterers, food, nest boxes, etc. In reality, they probably have less than 2... Not good.

Not sure how your roosts are set up, but even one roost running the long way would not have room for all birds to roost comfortably. A roosting chicken needs ~1 foot in winter and ~18" in summer (warmth = more space needed, remember, they wear year round down coats). If you have multiple roosts, they need to be at the same height or fighting will ensue for the higher roost. Birds want to roost as high as they can. If you have multiples, hey need to be at least 1 foot away from the wall and 18-24 inches away from each other to avoid contact and fighting between roosts.

You say your coop is insulated (why? not necessary) and heated (why? definitely NOT needed) These two things cause multiple issues/concerns. As an insulated coop, I'm going to make the assumption that you have it sealed up "air tight" to hold in warmth when it's cold. Otherwise, why insulate? HUGE mistake for many reasons. Chickens make a lot of heat and give off a lot of moisture. By making the coop warm, the air will hold more moisture and when the temp gets down near freezing, this causes frostbite. It also causes breathing issues as bacteria love moist conditions and in a sealed coop, the air inside will get very stale and nasty very quickly. Coops need lots of ventilation. Ventilation means air exchange. Air exchange means it makes no sense to try heating inside.Chickens in a draft free environment will do nicely down to ~ 40 below zero. At that point it gets a bit sketchy. 25 below is not a deadly thing for a healthy bird that is in still air (no drafts) overnight.

There's a wealth of info, knowledge and experience shared in the multitude of threads. Browse around and see what interesting stuff you can find. By all means post away when the desire strikes you, especially if you have questions (provide as much detail/info as possible and pictures truly help)... With all the great folks here, generally someone will respond in no time at all. Please make yourself at home!

Oh, if you haven't done so already, PLEASE put at least your general location in your profile. It could be very important if/when you ask for or offer help or advice. You know, climate issues and such. I recommend at least your state as most folks won't be able to figure out where if you put anything more specific (county, town, street, etc) by itself. Old folks like me :old will never remember & look there first. To add it, mouse hover over Account top right and a drop down will appear. Click on Personal Details and scan down. You'll see the spot for Location. Then go to the bottom and save changes. Thanks! Hope you enjoy the site!
 
:welcome

You'll be in good company here, so much knowledge to be found.

You'd be advised to have at least 44 square feet for that many chickens. Some things can make slight differences work better or worse like climate, run space and access, individual temperments, breeds etc. So coop and run pics please!

Also please add your location to your profile, very helpful.
 
AllenK RGV said:
My thinking exactly N F C, 32sg ft for 11 hens is potentially the show stopper if they are confined and do not free range. If your chicken are active breeds they will not tolerate being squeezed in like that. How much roost space in linear feet do you have? That could be part of the problem too if it is only 8ft in length 12ft is the minimum for 11-12 Hens. Best wishes and welcome to BYC!:frow:welcome
Click to expand...
Hi!
So the coop has a 8X4 floor and it is 4 feet high. There are 3 roosts that are each 4 feet wide (24 feet total) The nests are built on the outside of the coop. See my photos on the emergency section of the blogs. I will be taking pictures of the heaves and ventilation system too so you can have a better view. Please can you continue that discussion under the other thread? Thank you so much for the help so far. I think I am going to make progress with all of you guys' help!
 
Alt-WELCOME-farmer-connie-1.gif
Welcome to Backyard Chickens!

Space and nutrition are the two most likely culprits for the feather picking. You need to have less hens or another coop for them. There are some nice ones you can build in the coop section of the articles
 
Agreed, space is your primary issue. Coop needs to have at least 4 s.f./bird. If you can't immediately give them more space, then you should consider re-homing at least 4 of them. Ventilation: you need at least 4 s.f. of ventilation even on a cold winter night. Recommendation is for ventilation to = 10% of floor space or 1 s.f./bird. No heat needed. Even in minus 20* weather. Bigger issue is lack of cu. ft. to address air quality and moisture issues.
 
G’Day from down under Emmanuelle :frow Welcome!

I hope you enjoy being a BYC member. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun.

You might want to also Find Your State Thread and pop in and say hello.

BYC has Topic of the Week discussions which I have found to be a great resource, informative and sometimes entertaining; so definitely worth checking out. This one might be of particular interest to you:
Topic of the Week - Feather Pecking/Eating

If you would like to share Pictures and Stories of your flock, you have come to the right place. BYC’ers never tire of these and do not back away slowly or commence eye rolling when the photo album or home videos come out ;)

Best wishes!
 
Chickens hate being crowded and can/will act out by bullying, feather plucking and at extremes cannibalism. They tolerate cold much better than heat. If they have a heated coop and power goes out- the change can cause much stress to them. They would be much worse off than if they didn't have heat.
 

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