Polish

[Laura Murphy Bevis]

I have 3 polish and one Easter egg Er that grew up together as chicks. THey get along fine. They have their own coop within the major run for all chickens. I let them out, since they have been 3 months visible and they were bullied horrible. Tow of them had their heads mauled and bloody. The Easter egg Er is so paranoid he is just a mess thinking about coming out of the little coop. I was going to take them out at dusk and let them run around. Then hopefully they would integrate better. So two questions 1. Should I put anything on their heads to help heal. 2. Any other ideas? T hank you

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Are they your only polish? How big is the rest of the flock? How big is their area?

Polish can be one of those challenging breeds. If your flock didn't grow up with polish than they are more prone to pecking the crests. They can peck them enough to kill them. You may need to keep them separately.

I use bluekote on peck wounds.

 

[sannabelle]

Agreed with oldhen- blue kote will cover up the wounds so the other chickens don't continue pecking at them...is it all of the bigger chickens going after them? Or just a select few?

 

[Chris2015]

How much space is there in the coop and in the run? The standard 3 ft per chicken we have found is complete bunk. Our first 6 girls - all Tetra tent from Tractor Supply same age etc got the biggest coop they had, 2 nesting boxes and roost and room underneath to “ run” ...... well suffice to say that was NOT enough!! I went out and bought a run that had a handle and wheels so we could take 2-3 at a time and “ free range” them- we live in the city and at night hubby had a way to secure the “ ranger” to the coop- he had a roof on it and xtra chix wire.... plus had a dog who loved out doors had a run and could kill anything while ON that run....so no fear for the chix from predators. Still not enough room!!!!!
Finally we found a DEAL on the coop- 6 nesters, two 5 foot roosts AND we added TWO COVERED dog runs so the girls have 5x20 foot run.... sadly by that time we had two of the original Tetras- Hannibal and Clarice.... they stayed in the old coop for 1 and 1/2 yrs till Clarice must have done something to annoy Hannibal.... and then Hannibal was alone..... my husband suggested that we try to put her in with the new girls who by then were 8 months old and BIG- I said no, as Hannibal had a taste for blood and loved it far too much...... as one can see from these pictures of the coop after Hurricane Matthew when we had to move her under our car port until we repaired her coop that had been crushed under 2 trees