Pecking has drawn blood

[melanienew]

I have two chickens and for whatever reason the one chicken has been pulling feathers out of the other chicken's neck/upper chest area for the past couple weeks. I just noticed that the chicken now has a little trail of blood running down the front of her chest. How do I get this behavior to stop? I am especially concerned because cold weather is approaching and I don't want my chicken to get frostbite on her chest and neck.

 

[katelk]

Have you seen this happen? It is molting season and they often start out by losing feathers on their neck.
If she is drawing blood somehow, you can cover any red sore spots by mixing a little blue food coloring with a bit of neosporin/triple antibiotic so it will help it stay clean and heal while taking away the yummy looking red pecking target.

Have you seen the other bird pecking her neck? What type of behavior surrounds it? Perhaps you can watch closely and figure out what her motivation is. Fighting, boredom, etc.
most commonly it is boredom. You can trow out some scratch, put a bale of hay in their yard to play on and scratch through, throw out a cabbage to peck at, etc.

 

[melanienew]

@katelk I have seen the other chicken do it multiple times. It might be boredom because we just got a bunch of snow and they refuse to leave their coop when there's snow on the ground. It's just strange because the chicken getting pecked at is the dominant chicken, and she isn't trying to stop the other chicken from pecking at her!

 

[katelk]

@katelk I have seen the other chicken do it multiple times. It might be boredom because we just got a bunch of snow and they refuse to leave their coop when there's snow on the ground. It's just strange because the chicken getting pecked at is the dominant chicken, and she isn't trying to stop the other chicken from pecking at her!

Oh my lol. Well I would make sure she doesn't have any scabs to attract the chicken and then set out to provide some good chicken entertainment.
Mine LOVE bales of hay. They climb all over them and peck through for grains and scratch them up and spread them everywhere. A bale of hay will entertain my girls for days and I have 16 lol

 

[MrsBrooke]

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/03/chicken-feather-loss-cannibalism-causes.html

Here is a great article all about feather loss/picking, some possible causes, and some possible cures.

I have found that throwing a few halved spaghetti squashes, cantaloupes, cucumbers, or cabbages in the coop (especially during bad weather) definitely help keeping the chicken's attention OFF of each other! Also, WARM treats during cold months serve as good distractions, too.

Winter can be a tough time for chickens and their people, since the weather can make us feel a little "cooped up."

I hope that helps!

MrsB

 

[toonlou]

my duck is having seizures and is blind now, what should I do

 

[Amiga]

my duck is having seizures and is blind now, what should I do

Can you give more information?

My first though is - it depends on the problem.

If the duck has been too hot, getting it away from the source of heat. If it has eaten something toxic, then a flush followed by a small amount of charcoal slurry and lots of fresh water.

It could be a bacterial infection - so antibiotics are needed.

A vet would be best in any case.

 

[dawg53]

I have two chickens and for whatever reason the one chicken has been pulling feathers out of the other chicken's neck/upper chest area for the past couple weeks. I just noticed that the chicken now has a little trail of blood running down the front of her chest. How do I get this behavior to stop? I am especially concerned because cold weather is approaching and I don't want my chicken to get frostbite on her chest and neck.

Are there any feathers on the ground? If not, your feather picker is eating the feathers indicating a lack of protein in the diet. If that's the case, purchase gamebird feed for them to eat. Then after winter, wean them off the gamebird feed back to regular layer feed.
Put Vick's Vapor Rub on the areas where feathers are being picked. The Vick's will deter feather picking.

 

[melanienew]

Oh my lol. Well I would make sure she doesn't have any scabs to attract the chicken and then set out to provide some good chicken entertainment.
Mine LOVE bales of hay. They climb all over them and peck through for grains and scratch them up and spread them everywhere. A bale of hay will entertain my girls for days and I have 16 lol

okay thanks so much for your advice!!

 

[melanienew]

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/03/chicken-feather-loss-cannibalism-causes.html

Here is a great article all about feather loss/picking, some possible causes, and some possible cures.

I have found that throwing a few halved spaghetti squashes, cantaloupes, cucumbers, or cabbages in the coop (especially during bad weather) definitely help keeping the chicken's attention OFF of each other! Also, WARM treats during cold months serve as good distractions, too.

Winter can be a tough time for chickens and their people, since the weather can make us feel a little "cooped up."

I hope that helps!

MrsB

Okay I will definitely try that thank you!!