My goodness the pecking! Need help figuring this out...

[aart]

We have 4 EEs in the basement going outside next weekend.

This could become a whole new drama.
Best of cLuck!

 

[bwebster]

This could become a whole new drama.
Best of cLuck!

Haha. You've been following all of the dramas @aart! Honestly I'm not super optimistic. Worst case we have 5 in the freezer. I am going to use the little red coop and give the young'ns a small section of run and slowly introduce.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Yea I hope this works also. The three main offenders will be permanently taken away. Do you think the new 4, plus the 2 docile birds will form a new pecking order without excessive pecking? Is that a thing? We felt terrible that this all unfolded the way it did. Live and learn I suppose.

Impossible to know until they're all together. But you have a decent amount of space for them now so I don't see why things wouldn't work out. Let's hope for a best case scenario, where the younger ones integrate in without too much issue, and you end up with a pretty peaceful flock.

 

[bwebster]

Quick update:

We went ahead and put the three in the freezer, and the two remaining are getting along great. It was pretty neat to see that within 30 minutes of being on their own, the two were already working out the new order. I have not seen any pecking between them. They both have Blu-Kote on their bald spots and have pin feathers coming in very nicely.

The 4 EE pullets are outside in their own coop, with a divider in the shared run. I have removed the divider a few times and the new boss hen definitely let the young ones know what was up. Nothing violent, just a stern peck here and a wing pull there. The other old girl couldn't care less about them. We've been gradually increasing the amount of interaction time and hopefully in the next week or so the divider will be taken out.


Thank you to everyone for the advice. We've learned a lot and, fingers crossed, this all works out. So far so good.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

 

[jonalisa]

The pecking continues.... I have 5 barred rocks, and all seem to be pecking each other. I was just watching them and at least 3 out of the 5 were getting after it. The original coop I had was way too small, so I built them a new one. Nothing changed. Today I noticed its actually worse than ever, with one having an open wound. I treated the wound, and applied some 'no-pecking' lotion I got from TSC to the other barebutts. I don't have it next to me, and I forget the name, but it's a purple lotion that kinda smells like A&D and comes in a brown little bottle. This is my first attempt at using it. I did see the main agitator go near a butt with the lotion and turn away, so maybe that will help.


So far I've built them a new coop (link below to coop build because I know people will ask to see the coop lol), put pinless peepers on (they learned to peck with the glasses) and now trying this lotion.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chronicles-of-a-new-coop.1415486/page-2#post-23691752



Any ideas here? Should I wait it out with this purple goop and see? The coop is 6x8, and the run is 6x9. I feed them DuMor 16% layer crumble, and they have oyster shell available. I just very recently added the oyster shell, because a friend of mine told me it's really only needed when there are calcium issues, but I don't know if that's true or not. So now they have it. I did read somewhere that pecking may also be the hens trying to get some protein from the feathers.

Next step is making a couple dinner, but I'm not convinced the survivors will not just continue the behavior because I feel it is habitual now. I plan to extend their run in spring, because now the ground is frozen pretty solid and will be tough to get posts in.

Thanks for any help. If I do eat two, it will be disappointing because the egg production we get now is just enough for the family.

I recently had to separate a hen for health reasons. When I put her out to free range, one by one they saw her and came to peck her. I stayed near her, armed with a squirt gun. Everyone one advanced on her with aggression, I squirted her in the sides of the head. That's stopped them cold. I had to do 2 hens a couple of times but very quickly they stopped and went off on another direction. Within a half hour, no one was interested in the victim and I was able to put her in the coop that night. I have a camera in there, and they basically ignored her.
Chickens learn pretty quick.