Jealousy?

[Punky84]

I have 3 hens in a 12x12 area. So plenty of room. Plus they free range. Two are laying eggs now. The third is trying. The one not laying yet is pecking butt feathers off my 1st layer. I don't know why, but when they are free range she doesn't. Is it jealous or what? What should I do? Is it boredom?

 

[Punky84]

I have 3 hens in a 12x12 area. So plenty of room. Plus they free range. Two are laying eggs now. The third is trying. The one not laying yet is pecking butt feathers off my 1st layer. I don't know why, but when they are free range she doesn't. Is it jealous or what? What should I do? Is it boredom?

Feather puller is a Jersey Giant, 1st layer is a Golden Comet, other is Rhode Island Red. Red is oldest and been boss since chicks.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Boredom can be a factor. What does your run area look like? How long and how often do you free range?

Also what do you feed them? Lower protein can sometimes be linked to feather picking as well.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Also, check them for mites or lice. That might be grooming.

You can try isolating the one doing the picking for a while. I had a hen picking the feathers off of a rooster's neck one time. They were on a perch during the day and he just let her. I locked him up overnight. I never saw her picking his feathers again. Usually I isolate the aggressor but she was laying eggs and he wasn't so I let her have access to the nests.

 

[Punky84]

Boredom can be a factor. What does your run area look like? How long and how often do you free range?

Also what do you feed them? Lower protein can sometimes be linked to feather picking as well.

Their feed is 16% protein. They free range twice a day for over an hour each. The one doing the pecking is laying soft shell eggs and the others eat it.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The one not laying yet is pecking butt feathers off my 1st layer.

The one doing the pecking is laying soft shell eggs and the others eat it.

So the one not laying is laying soft shelled eggs? The head just spins!

Whether she is laying or not doesn't change anything to me as far as her pecking feathers. The soft shelled eggs are a totally different issue.

It is not unusual for a chicken to eat an egg that is already open. That does not make her an egg-eater. An egg-eater is a chicken that purposely opens an egg to eat it. Eating a soft-shelled egg could possibly lead to them learning to open an egg but I don't think you are there yet as they are not opening their own eggs.

How hard the eggshells of the two that are not soft-shelled? If they are OK then you do not have a problem with how they are eating or how you are managing them. It is an individual chicken question.

It is not unusual for a pullet that is just starting to lay to lay weird eggs. The internal egg making process is pretty complicated. Sometimes it takes a pullet a few days to get all of the bugs out of that system. So if it has been less than a week or even two weeks I would not worry that much about being a permanent problem. In my flock I give them some time to work it out.

But I'd suggest you get some calcium supplements from your pharmacy and put one pill a day in her beak. She should swallow it. That might solve your soft eggshell problem or it might not. It depends on what her specific reason for her soft-shelled eggs are.

Since the others are eating her eggs I would not delay, you don't want them to learn to open eggs. I'd also isolate her for a few days to see if the eggshells get harder. I consider the potential for egg eating to be much more serious than a little feather picking.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Their feed is 16% protein. They free range twice a day for over an hour each. The one doing the pecking is laying soft shell eggs and the others eat it.

I'd see about adding a bit more clutter, the stuff that is there is fairly small and not actually breaking line of sight from one side to another.

I'd also up the protein to see if that helps.

Since you know the one bird has been having shelling issues, I agree that it'd be a good idea to try giving her a calcium citrate tablet daily for a couple weeks to see if that fixes the shell issue - if it does, then she simply needed more calcium than she was taking in - not sure if you put out oyster shell or crushed eggshell for them, but some birds may need more than the amount provided in layer feed. If calcium supplements don't fix the shell issues, then the problem is internal and adding extra calcium won't help her.

 

[ChicNmom]

I had a jealous hen that would pull butt feathers out of my roosters 2 favorite girls. She would run ahead of him and sit in his path. He would step over or around her and keep going.

If they are eating each others eggs maybe she is waiting for one to pop out to eat it. When free ranging they are occupied.

 

[aart]

If they are eating each others eggs maybe she is waiting for one to pop out to eat it.

Definitely a possibility....but has nothing to do with 'jealousy'.

 

[ChicNmom]

Definitely a possibility....but has nothing to do with 'jealousy'.

I agree.