Nevadans?

[SunnyDawn]

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Me too!

SQ stands for show quality. Important only if you show your birds which I don't. Even if I had show birds I'd be scared of what they might catch while around all those other birds. I've heard too many horror stories of folks losing their beloved prize winning pets when they were exposed to some virus at a show.

 

[Knemeyer]

Hello all! I need some help with my gals. I believe it's my barred rocks doing this, but they are pecking the feathers above the tail on the other hens. The two barred rocks seem to be the only ones not getting pecked so I'm assuming it's them doing it. It seemed to start happening when it got real cold. We started closing them up in their coop to keep the wind out (their run is fully enclosed with 1/4" hardware cloth). The coop is 6' wide x 6' high x 12' long and their are 12 of them. Is it the cold or being confined in the coop? I thought there was plenty of room. We also have a 3-tiered roost in there. Would love any advice on this.

 

[SparksNV]

Is there anyway you can put up a wind block so they can come out of the coop? My birds get the option everyday to stay in or come out - regardless of weather. They can go under the coop (I put up some plywood to block the wind) or they hang out next to the fence that blocks the wind.

Here is a photo with the plywood. In the summer I take the plywood off of the front for more air circulation.

 

[Eglyntine]

Hi Everyone! I am almost returned from the land of the dead. I am over the pneumonia now but I have a really bad case of tonsillitis now.

ME!!! I think I need a laptop for when I am not in a situation where I can sit in this blasted chair.

Anyway, I hope all is going well. I am so sorry to hear about the newcomer's chickens. OMG I do not know what I would do, just reading your story made me cry right on the spot. Growing up our neighbours were fairly warned many times of the repercussions of their mishandling of their "pets" getting loose on our property and killing any of our chickens. Unfortunately there were a couple that did not win the battle over lead poisoning including one of my own dogs. Of course the laws have changed somewhat these days so you have to plaster signs all over the place before you can take any action and you are lucky to get any help from the law when it is a child much less poultry or another animal. I know that may seem like a harsh way of dealing with things but when you put the money, the time and the enormous effort into these flocks to feed your family and bring in a little extra income or even if they are just a hobby/pet project it is devastating financially and emotionally to start all over again especially after something so violent happening. Considering all of the lost work on genetics too, it is just... well there are no words. I am very sorry for your loss.

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Sounds like "cooped up" syndrome. They need something to do and since they have nothing to do they are picking (literally) at each other. For now if it is just feather picking you are ok temporarily. I would do like Carol mentioned and let them out if you can. Even if it is only for an hour or two each day. They need constant new things to make them happy. Even if it is to go out in the coop and rake everything up into a huge pile and let them scratch it back out. Anything to keep them occupied on something other than who is higher on the pecking order.

If they start to draw blood, you can have a serious problem on your hands pretty quickly. Chickens are major carnivores when bored and cooped up. (no pun intended) and once blood is drawn it is like putting blood in the water with a school of piranha. I would add some blood meal (only about a tbsp per every 2 quarts of food) to their food and if they have pecked a chicken to skin or to blood, paste some pine tar on the skin or over the pecked area. It is a natural antiseptic and it tastes nasty which of course will change their mind about re-pecking that chicken. You can pick it up at any feed and seed for about $10 a quart which should last you the lifetime of your chickens. *LOL* You can also get the blood meal in any hardware store in the natural fertilizer section. It is just what it says on the bag, dried blood from cows and it has always worked on keeping our chickens from getting into a major flesh eating frenzy.

But your best bet is to get some flock blocks out there, hang some cabbage, suet block, or any other healthy treat or fun things around the coop so they have something to do, change things around in the pen to disrupt their "normalcy", or just let them out to free range a bit every day.

 

[Knemeyer]

Quote:
Sounds like "cooped up" syndrome. They need something to do and since they have nothing to do they are picking (literally) at each other. For now if it is just feather picking you are ok temporarily. I would do like Carol mentioned and let them out if you can. Even if it is only for an hour or two each day. They need constant new things to make them happy. Even if it is to go out in the coop and rake everything up into a huge pile and let them scratch it back out. Anything to keep them occupied on something other than who is higher on the pecking order.

If they start to draw blood, you can have a serious problem on your hands pretty quickly. Chickens are major carnivores when bored and cooped up. (no pun intended) and once blood is drawn it is like putting blood in the water with a school of piranha. I would add some blood meal (only about a tbsp per every 2 quarts of food) to their food and if they have pecked a chicken to skin or to blood, paste some pine tar on the skin or over the pecked area. It is a natural antiseptic and it tastes nasty which of course will change their mind about re-pecking that chicken. You can pick it up at any feed and seed for about $10 a quart which should last you the lifetime of your chickens. *LOL* You can also get the blood meal in any hardware store in the natural fertilizer section. It is just what it says on the bag, dried blood from cows and it has always worked on keeping our chickens from getting into a major flesh eating frenzy.

But your best bet is to get some flock blocks out there, hang some cabbage, suet block, or any other healthy treat or fun things around the coop so they have something to do, change things around in the pen to disrupt their "normalcy", or just let them out to free range a bit every day.

Thanks Eglyntine! I will try the blood meal and look for the pine tar. They are only locked in the coop at night because of the cold. We close it up about 8pm and my son lets them out into their run first thing in the morning. The run is about 8' wide by 18' long. Even though the run is probably big enough I think they need more to do in their also. In the summer I was giving them lots of treats from my vegetable garden but now that Winter is here, there isn't as much to give them. I'm also thinking of just leaving the chicken door open instead of closing it up and adding a heat lamp at night. That way if they need to get out into the run earlier for some space, they can do it. I will definitely start mixing things up in the run for them! Thanks for your help! When things start seeming a little hopeless, I always get great advice from you all!

 

[Knemeyer]

OH! P.S. Eglyntine I'm glad you're on the mend!

 

[shanyalv]

I got two eggs today !!! I am still so lost as to how I can post pics but I did the happy dance

all over the backyard with my gimpy self ( managed to sprain my ankle when the pig rammed me and then later on in the day I fell over some wood )

My big coop is almost done too which is really exciting as well. Hopefully I can get it all done before I head out of town again !

 

[SunnyDawn]

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How exciting!!!

I mean the eggs not the sprain.

Hope your ankle heals quickly.

 

[aubreynoramarie]

jeeze, y'all get hurt alot!

 

[Eglyntine]

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Depending on where you live I do not know that I would leave the coop door open at night. We have dogs and cats that run the neighbourhood here and I have images of getting up in the morning to an unpleasant sight because I left the door open and some cat decided to go to KFC in my backyard. But if you live somewhere were you do not have to worry about that then you only have to look at drafts, if there are none then it is not a problem.

My chickens go inside around 4ish, chicken door completely closed at 5pm, lights out on a timer at 6:30pm, lights on at 5:30 a.m. and I open the door around 9 a.m. I do not open the door earlier because I have found that as long as my roosters are not outside they will not crow so for a convenience to my neighbours I wait until 9 so that no one is awakened too early by my inconsiderate roosters. If I lived out on some real property where I did not have neighbours, their door would open much earlier.

Sounds like you are doing things right, you just need to put more stuff out in their run for them to do. Mine have free range of 1/3 of an acre and they still get bored and I have to go out and re-arrange things just to give them something to figure out for a couple of days. A bored chicken is a pecking chicken.