New Member Near Colorado Springs

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jmmeye4 said:
Well minus one on the flock the Cuckoo Moran was kicked away from the others and froze. Found her yesterday with peck marks also but due to very little blood suspect dead then pecked. Anyone have any info on this behavior? The temps in my area have averaged -10 for three days and the poor thing didn't stand a chance even with a half heated coop. If someone around has a Moran they are looking to re-home I'm all ears.
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Birds that are crowded in will turn on each other and go cannibalistic. When a bird starts to get pecked the others can join in and it can kill the bird. Then they sometimes can continue and eat the bird. I understand it has been cold over the past few days, but get your birds out of the coop during the day. Don't heat your coop either. This will make them unable to go outside. I will add heat to the coop at night only if it is going to be -20 or -30. But during the day the birds need to get out and do something. This behavior stems from nothing to do in small spaces. Give them something to do in the coop. Hanging cabbages, seed pecking blocks, veggies, etc...so they have better things to do than pick on each other.
 
Quote: Birds that are crowded in will turn on each other and go cannibalistic. When a bird starts to get pecked the others can join in and it can kill the bird. Then they sometimes can continue and eat the bird. I understand it has been cold over the past few days, but get your birds out of the coop during the day. Don't heat your coop either. This will make them unable to go outside. I will add heat to the coop at night only if it is going to be -20 or -30. But during the day the birds need to get out and do something. This behavior stems from nothing to do in small spaces. Give them something to do in the coop. Hanging cabbages, seed pecking blocks, veggies, etc...so they have better things to do than pick on each other.
Thank you for the information. I did not know that they would go cannibalistic if bored. I would not consider then crowded in the coop as there were 8 birds in a coop designed for 12, but I guess any space for an extended time will do this. I went out and got some cabbage for them to munch on, along with a fill of chicken scratch which the little guys seemed to want to swim in.

Today should be better to were I can actually go shovel their area and let them out. I live at 7500 feet so we have about 1.5 ft of snow over the last few days also. I plan to have them out of the coop tomorrow morning as the wind chill will be above 0.
 
jmmeye4 said:
Quote: Birds that are crowded in will turn on each other and go cannibalistic. When a bird starts to get pecked the others can join in and it can kill the bird. Then they sometimes can continue and eat the bird. I understand it has been cold over the past few days, but get your birds out of the coop during the day. Don't heat your coop either. This will make them unable to go outside. I will add heat to the coop at night only if it is going to be -20 or -30. But during the day the birds need to get out and do something. This behavior stems from nothing to do in small spaces. Give them something to do in the coop. Hanging cabbages, seed pecking blocks, veggies, etc...so they have better things to do than pick on each other.
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Thank you for the information. I did not know that they would go cannibalistic if bored. I would not consider then crowded in the coop as there were 8 birds in a coop designed for 12, but I guess any space for an extended time will do this. I went out and got some cabbage for them to munch on, along with a fill of chicken scratch which the little guys seemed to want to swim in.

Today should be better to were I can actually go shovel their area and let them out. I live at 7500 feet so we have about 1.5 ft of snow over the last few days also. I plan to have them out of the coop tomorrow morning as the wind chill will be above 0.
Yes, winter is a tough time for chickens stuck inside all the time. My birds have huge spaces in the coop and run and they still get annoyed with each other. LOL So do your best to keep them entertained. If you know who is being the aggressor, you can always separate them out for a spell or use pinless peepers on them. Generally it is one that starts it and then the others follow. So if you can figure out who is the starter of it, you can stop some of this issue. But all of them can become annoyed with there is nothing to do.

Good luck with your birds!
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TwoCrows said:
Yes, winter is a tough time for chickens stuck inside all the time. My birds have huge spaces in the coop and run and they still get annoyed with each other. LOL So do your best to keep them entertained. If you know who is being the aggressor, you can always separate them out for a spell or use pinless peepers on them. Generally it is one that starts it and then the others follow. So if you can figure out who is the starter of it, you can stop some of this issue. But all of them can become annoyed with there is nothing to do.

Good luck with your birds!
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First finally figured out how this forum works, yay. Second Pinless Peepers? I am not familiar with this and some of my searches turned up some not so good stuff. I have a feeling of who it is as she tends to try and push the others around (also the oldest). I plan on giving each one over 20 feet per bird starting after the snow thaws (ground is to hard). Have all the stuff just need soft soil. Is there any better way to tell which is doing it other than sit and wait for evidence? Would hate to separate a bird that is doing nothing wrong. Use to train parrots and it was always a bad thing to do unless you know for sure.
 
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Sounds like you have a very nice flock!

I'm not sure exactly why that happened to your Marans, but it might have been due to bullying. She might have gotten excessively bullied by another chicken and decided to stay outside rather than inside with the mean chicken, resulting in her death. I'm not 100% sure of this, but you can post your question in the "Emergencies, Diseases, Injuries and Cures" forum. Sorry for your loss.
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https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/10/emergencies-diseases-injuries-and-cures

Also, if you want to talk with people in your state and connect with them, try the "Colorado" thread.
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https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/68894/colorado
 
jmmeye4 said:
Quote: In my flock, the flock leader is the one that can pick on the others, especially their combs. And hers is spotless! The others have black peck marks on them. So you might start there and see who has the nicest comb. LOL But watching them is always the best way if you want to isolate the bully out. I have used pinless peepers on my flock leader hen in the past. It is not a cure all, but put her in her place for a while, until she gets cranky again and I have to put them back on. The peepers stop them from being able to peck, bite, or pluck feathers out of the other birds. The bird can still eat, drink, forage, lay, roost, everything they normally need to do except be mean.
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Welcome to the site. Welcome to COS. We have a couple of COS threads that don't seem to keep going. Check the Colorado thread. That one seems to stay fairly busy. Hope to chat you more soon.
 

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