pecking?

[kle2684]

This is my 5 month old Brahma. She started with feather loss on her rear, below her vent. The next day it was on her legs and now they look bruised and a little bloody. It seemed to come on over night. I have checked her for lice/mites. Any ideas? She doesn't seem to be acting broody. She has always been the boss of the flock but I

'm not here during the day to see the interaction. She is eating, drink and laying fine. What do you think???

 

[coach723]

How many chickens do you have?
If you are sure that there are no mites, then I'd say it looks like pecking.
I started seeing lots of bare behinds once after adding some new chicks to the big coop and it was because they all felt too crowded and were pecking at each other on the roosts. I increased the spacing and angle between roosts, and added another roost, and problem was solved. Depends on your set up and how much room you have, what you can do.
If that's what it is, it may take until the next molt to see feather re-growth.

 

[kle2684]

How many chickens do you have?
If you are sure that there are no mites, then I'd say it looks like pecking.
I started seeing lots of bare behinds once after adding some new chicks to the big coop and it was because they all felt too crowded and were pecking at each other on the roosts.  I increased the spacing and angle between roosts, and added another roost, and problem was solved.  Depends on your set up and how much room you have, what you can do. 
If that's what it is, it may take until the next molt to see feather re-growth.

I have 5 chickens in a pre-made coop that I bought at tractor supply. The coop is supposed to hold 6. They are in it during the day while I am at work but when I get out of work, they roam around outside the coop. Today I witnessed what I think is going on...while two of my girls were taking their dust baths, two of the others were pulling at their feathers. There was no squaking and neither hen seemed to care. They just continued to bathe. Is this normal!?

 

[henny1129]

I have 5 chickens in a pre-made coop that I bought at tractor supply. The coop is supposed to hold 6. They are in it during the day while I am at work but when I get out of work, they roam around outside the coop. Today I witnessed what I think is going on...while two of my girls were taking their dust baths, two of the others were pulling at their feathers. There was no squaking and neither hen seemed to care. They just continued to bathe. Is this normal!?

It definitely looks like pecking. (I apologize, I accidentally just hit submit and I wasn't finished, I'll make a new post with more info )

 

[henny1129]

I have 5 chickens in a pre-made coop that I bought at tractor supply. The coop is supposed to hold 6. They are in it during the day while I am at work but when I get out of work, they roam around outside the coop. Today I witnessed what I think is going on...while two of my girls were taking their dust baths, two of the others were pulling at their feathers. There was no squaking and neither hen seemed to care. They just continued to bathe. Is this normal!?

Sorry about that last post. It definitely looks like pecking to me. I would go to TSC (or other farm store by you) and buy Pine Tar. It should be in the horse aisle as it is used for horses hooves, but it works great on chickens. Basically this stuff stinks and tastes awful, so if you rub it all over all the bare spots on your chickens the "peckers" should learn to not peck others because it tastes awful. Make sure when you are putting it on the chickens that you use plastic gloves too, because it can be an irritant to human skin. You could buy regular "no-peck", but honestly it doesn't work. We had a severe pecking problem (had to get rid of 9/13 chickens it was so bad ) and the only thing that finally worked was Pine Tar. It might take a while for the feathers to grow back, but because chickens aren't pecking at the bare skin, feathers should grow back.

And a few questions to figure out why they might be pecking: What are you feeding them? Do they have a run attached to their coop that they can run around in during the day while you are gone?

I hope this helps and keep us updated!

 

[coach723]

The house space for roosting at night is probably adequate for 5 hens. However, IMHO, most of the pre-mades do not provide enough outdoor space. If there is anyway you can expand their outdoor roaming area during the day that would probably help. A quick fix is a premade dog run with cover, attached to your current set up, which you can also get at TSC, and close them up in the coop at night. I've no idea what your predator situation is, so just a suggestion. In the mean time you can provide more protein in their diet, which sometimes is why they pull feathers and eat them, and try to provide some boredom busters so they are not so intent on each other. You can search for both and find lots of ideas, hopefully some that are doable for you.