Ripped pinless peepers off! Help!

[Pippy1]

Well, things have been going great. Our 9 chickens have now been laying for a few weeks. I have had two of them in pinless peepers/blinders due to aggressive pecking and attacking. They have been working great until today! They BOTH figured out how to rip them off by using their feet! nostrils bleeding and they don't care. Replaced them twice on one hen and three times on the other one and they simply don't care if they hurt themselves getting them off, they just go ahead and rip them off. Got brand new ones thinking that the old ones may be bent and they ripped the new ones off too. Has anyone else dealt with this? I just got the one hen healed up. Made her a "wig" of her spent feathers to cover the hole that the naughty two had put in her and was starting to put in another hen. I don't know what to do?? Possibly a way that you can make them more permanent?? They worked great while they could not get them off. They must have been discussing this over breakfast and one taught the other one how to do it! Both off in the same morning! Everything else is fine with them no runny nose or sneezing to anything like that that could have made them want them off. Help! These girls are aggressive and mean without them!

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Have you tried isolating them, each one in her own space, for about a week at a time. This time out often calms them down, as they are flock animals. Which also means they will fight for who is the alpha hen. Do you have a rooster? If not, can you get one? Among other things they break up hen fights. And they are the alpha.

 

[Kiki]

Could they (the pines peepers) possible be hurting them?
I have no clue what they even are.
I would separate them too.

 

[Pippy1]

Have you tried isolating them, each one in her own space, for about a week at a time. This time out often calms them down, as they are flock animals. Which also means they will fight for who is the alpha hen. Do you have a rooster? If not, can you get one? Among other things they break up hen fights. And they are the alpha.

I don't really have a place to isolate them. I guess I could get a small cage or something. No rooster and have I kids and worry about having one and it being aggressive with us! So, that's why we don't have one. Most of the hens are good natured. Just these two aren't. I don't want to make them chicken noodle soup, but I can't have them ripping up the others. I'll look into getting a cage and seeing if taking them on a vacation helps. Thanks for replying.

 

[Pippy1]

Could they (the pines peepers) possible be hurting them?
I have no clue what they even are.
I would separate them too.

They are blinders that hook into their nostrils. They still see to eat etc. and have worked so well for a couple of months now. I really don't think they were being hurt by them at all. They are just too smart for their own good and aggressive too and figured a way to get them off.

 

[Leighe]

Separating out the aggressive ones is the way to go. It will require them to have to establish themselves in the pecking order. Here's an article on it.
https://www.chickenkeepingsecrets.c...n-pecking-order-dealing-with-aggressive-hens/

 

[Ursuline Chick]

I don't really have a place to isolate them. I guess I could get a small cage or something. No rooster and have I kids and worry about having one and it being aggressive with us! So, that's why we don't have one. Most of the hens are good natured. Just these two aren't. I don't want to make them chicken noodle soup, but I can't have them ripping up the others. I'll look into getting a cage and seeing if taking them on a vacation helps. Thanks for replying.

We built a broody cage with a small run in the large free range area so they could still see each other but couldn't hurt anyone. We had a rooster, a black copper marans, or at least partly, he was a rescue. He was sweet with people and protective with his girls. A rooster can be a great asset. My roo allowed tots in strollers to pet him, if I held him and older kids to hand feed him, he also went head to head with hawks, feed the best morsles to his girls, broke up hen fights, chased possums, yelled for me to get a hen out of our pool. I could go on and on. Find a breed with a docile reputation and get him as a cockerel, respect his right as head chicken. If he wants his hens to go in at night, help hurd them in with him, but let him know you are the head chicken who is in charge in the end. If he knows you respect his position as head of the flock you are less likely to get agression.

 

[rebrascora]

Aggression and feather picking in hens is usually an indication of not enough space and/or boredom. Adding a rooster to an already potentially cramped area will not improve things, so it is important to understand why these hens feel the need to pick on the others, before suggesting a solution that might make things worse. Also, whilst there are many good roosters out there, there are a also quite a lot of bad ones and often you don't know how they will turn out until you have got them home.

How big is your coop and run? Do you free range at all? Can you post a photo of your set up? Do you have multiple feed and water stations which often helps when there are bossy hens. Things for the hens to peck and scratch at to keep them occupied, other than each other. Places for the pecked hens to get up out of the way on perches or out of sight of their aggressor(s) Removing the bullies for a week or two should improve things and reintroducing them one at a time, so that they are at a disadvantage and can't team up to bully the other hens straight away, but more space is undoubtedly key. With plenty of space, there are simply far more interesting things to do than go looking for trouble.... assuming the pecking order has been sorted out.

 

[Leighe]

It's hard when you have kids, to make the decision to have a rooster or not. The horror stories abound. I actually have friends who want my roosters because my rooster is so calm and gentle. You might look around and ask. Once you find a sweet rooster your job is made easier, the ladies have someone watching out for them and usually the ladies are sweeter.

 

[Chickassan]

There has to be something else going on, hens fight don't get me wrong but not to the point of having to put blinders on them that's just plain unusual. No rooster to compete over, only nine hens. Odd I say!