Dooze
In the Brooder
- Mar 12, 2015
- 69
- 3
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I currently have 4 four year old hens, 3 of which who are involved in a very confusing pecking order.
Our skittish 8lb Australorp hen stays out of it all.
Our Silkie, Speckled Sussex, and Easter Egger, however, are all at each others necks (literally.) Our Silkie is afro-less because the others pecked it off. The take off the spotted tops of our sussex's neck feathers and she's starting to lose feathers by her tail. And our poor beautiful EE has a patchy beard and neck. Anti-peck cream isn't helping any of this except the sussex's back feathers.
I try to come up with different ways to cure their boredom (they are currently free-range; we don't have an outdoor pen available for them at this moment.) There isn't really any other explanation to why they've been plucking feathers.
The only think I've been able to do without spending a bunch of money was fill up a water bottle with fresh corn and just leave it in the for them to peck at but they aren't a fan of the noisy bottle.
How do you prevent pecking?
Our skittish 8lb Australorp hen stays out of it all.
Our Silkie, Speckled Sussex, and Easter Egger, however, are all at each others necks (literally.) Our Silkie is afro-less because the others pecked it off. The take off the spotted tops of our sussex's neck feathers and she's starting to lose feathers by her tail. And our poor beautiful EE has a patchy beard and neck. Anti-peck cream isn't helping any of this except the sussex's back feathers.
I try to come up with different ways to cure their boredom (they are currently free-range; we don't have an outdoor pen available for them at this moment.) There isn't really any other explanation to why they've been plucking feathers.
The only think I've been able to do without spending a bunch of money was fill up a water bottle with fresh corn and just leave it in the for them to peck at but they aren't a fan of the noisy bottle.
How do you prevent pecking?
