Pinless peepers

[Bostonburbs]

Hi all,

My apologies if I am posting this in the wrong area. I am not really dealing with an emergency or injury, so do not want to distract from urgent needs on that board.

Beginning in November, I noticed that some bullying was going on in our flock of eight hens that we started as chicks last spring. Feathers missing from another hen’s neck and the base of her tail. It quickly became apparent that it is one of our Easter Eggers. Feathers being plucked from one hen at first, but through the winter it became most of them. I only witnessed her being aggressive once. Otherwise, it just looks like occasional pecking, and I am suspecting most of it is happening at night. They all seem fine together during my many check-ins during the day; I don’t see her going after anyone. They all have plenty of space, multiple water/food zones, and are otherwise healthy. We are also letting them out in our movable tractor for most of the day now.

Feathers start to grow back and I’m hopeful, then I will arrive in the morning to see that she has been at it again.

I would love to hear your thoughts on pinless peepers, or direct me to a previous post if this has already been covered. (I was unable to find anything here, just Amazon reviews.) I would love to see them all looking like themselves again!

thank you for your help!

 

[CCUK]

Hi all,

My apologies if I am posting this in the wrong area. I am not really dealing with an emergency or injury, so do not want to distract from urgent needs on that board.

Beginning in November, I noticed that some bullying was going on in our flock of eight hens that we started as chicks last spring. Feathers missing from another hen’s neck and the base of her tail. It quickly became apparent that it is one of our Easter Eggers. Feathers being plucked from one hen at first, but through the winter it became most of them. I only witnessed her being aggressive once. Otherwise, it just looks like occasional pecking, and I am suspecting most of it is happening at night. They all seem fine together during my many check-ins during the day; I don’t see her going after anyone. They all have plenty of space, multiple water/food zones, and are otherwise healthy. We are also letting them out in our movable tractor for most of the day now.

Feathers start to grow back and I’m hopeful, then I will arrive in the morning to see that she has been at it again.

I would love to hear your thoughts on pinless peepers, or direct me to a previous post if this has already been covered. (I was unable to find anything here, just Amazon reviews.) I would love to see them all looking like themselves again!

thank you for your help!

I have one hen that started bullying another. She was mounting her like a cockeral all the time and chasing her around. I got some of these pinless peepers and put some on her. They did work initially. She stopped her bullying ways almost immediately. I left them on her for about a week and then removed them. All was good for a while then she started again so I refitted them. It stopped her doing it again. So I removed them. Then she started again so I refitted them only this time it seemed to have no effect and the poor hen that was being bullied ended up with no feathers on her back from being constantly mounted. I have since had to separate the bully hen from the flock. The easiest thing to do would be to get rid of the bully. Try them and see if they work for you, I've had mixed results. Hopefully your hen won't be as persistent as mine!