Issues with PVC pipe injuring flock

JenZazie

In the Brooder
Oct 30, 2016
9
4
29
Napa Valley, CA
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Hello! I made a feeder with a trash can and PVC elbows, but somehow the flock must be hurting themselves on it... there’s fresh blood every day. Oddly, I can’t find ANY signs of injuries on the chickens- I checked their combs, necks, and even feet. Any ideas what’s going on or how to fix it?!
 
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Hello! I made a feeder with a trash can and PVC elbows, but somehow the flock must be hurting themselves on it... there’s fresh blood every day. Oddly, I can’t find ANY signs of injuries on the chickens- I checked their combs, necks, and even feet. Any ideas what’s going on or how to fix it?!

The edges of that PCV elbow are not sharp and cannot injure your chickens.
As others have suggested, they are rubbing an already injured comb on the surface and removing the scab causing the comb to bleed and you are seeing the results.
I would focus my attention now on who is getting pecked most and by whom and start addressing that issue.
How many birds do you have?
Ages?
Any cockerels or roosters?
How much space in the coop/run?
Are they active or sitting around bored and pecking one another?
 
Could they be injuring their combs on the second "rim" if they crowd to get to the food? Possibly sand that edge down with a rounded contour? Just a little nick can cause a lot of blood from a nice red comb!

PVC fittings are very smooth from the manufacturing process. Sanding them actually roughens the surface so the cleaner and cement have more surface area to bond with and form a water tight seal.
I would avoid sanding them. Unless going all the way to an extremely fine grit like 500 or higher you won't make them any smoother than they already are.
 
The edges of that PCV elbow are not sharp and cannot injure your chickens.
As others have suggested, they are rubbing an already injured comb on the surface and removing the scab causing the comb to bleed and you are seeing the results.
I would focus my attention now on who is getting pecked most and by whom and start addressing that issue.
How many birds do you have?
Ages?
Any cockerels or roosters?
How much space in the coop/run?
Are they active or sitting around bored and pecking one another?

Yeah, it seems really smooth, so that's a good point! Maybe I'm just seeing the injury because the white PVC shows the blood. I have 18 birds, aged 6 months-3 years. One rooster, but he's a great Roo- of course he does his thing, but none of the hens are missing feathers or anything, he's gentle. The run is 900 square feet- huge- and the coop door opens automatically at dawn, so they're not trapped in the coop together much. They free range about 5 days/ week on my 12 acres. I haven't noticed any behavioral issues/ pecking/ etc, except of course when I throw out special treats and they'll fight over those. While they were eating meal worms yesterday I looked as closely as I could at all their combs and didn't see any blood/ clots/ injuries.

I'm thinking of using duck tape to further soften the top edge of the PVC, where that ridge is? Only two of the four feeding holes have blood in them- maybe those two are angled a little differently and scrape their heads more? I left those two covered (I have caps I put on them at night to keep the rats out) today- I'll see if blood appears in the other two now.
 
PVC fittings are very smooth from the manufacturing process. Sanding them actually roughens the surface so the cleaner and cement have more surface area to bond with and form a water tight seal.
I would avoid sanding them. Unless going all the way to an extremely fine grit like 500 or higher you won't make them any smoother than they already are.

Yeah, the edges seem very soft. I mean, there's a lip there, but it's smooth and rounded.
 
The elbow is in upside down, for the normal no waste feeders. I can see a hen or roo getting hurt using it that way.
How big is the elbow? Roosters can hurt their comb on the PVC, if it's less than 4 inches, even when installed pointing down, look at him closely.

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