Stupid stupid stupid stupid birds... Pecking the pullet.

[redfeather]

Yeah... part of my problem is it's a flock of solid buffs and I can barely tell the individuals apart.... in any case I just gave the whole flock away (except for my gentle rooster and the remaining pullet) to someone with a whole lotta land... he gets a bunch of free feed from the local brewery, so he doesn't mind if they don't lay great, so good for him I guess, haha.

I'm restarting the EEs, RIRs, GBCs and either Welsummers, BCMs or Penes.

 

[Miss Lydia]

don't think your out of the woods just because you got rid of this bunch, this happens in every flock and to everyone who raises chickens, sometimes you can get rid of the one who's causing the problem and they go on to live trouble free lives and then it might start all over again.. Sometimes enviroment has alot to do with it, if chickens are continuely closed up fro long periods of time because of weather[snow etc] you'll see more of this kind of behaviour. My chickens free range but even with all the freedom they have I still see the bullying going on. I had a little frizzle cochin that lost most of the top of her head because of meaness but she is now fine and very tough little bird. I use bluekote alot to cover wounds to keep the others from getting out of hand. Good luck on your next chickens but don't expect them to be anything but chickens.. and I always wait till the bird in question is completely healed before putting back in with the mob too. also try my best to find those that did the dirty work to begin with, which I realize isn't always easy..

 

[redfeather]

I didn't get rid of them do to this incident --- they were about 5+ years old and I was wanting to clear them out anyway. I know it might not be different, but I can always try and see.

I think part of the problem was the old flock got bad habits because they were originally in the 8x8 shed, but had a much smaller run.... their run was probably about 1/5 of what they have now... and it had no covering and got solid mud so they didn't like going out in it, then they were confined... by the time we built the new run it was too late.

We just put a new tin roof on the big run, so it should stay really nice and dry too.

I'm pretty optimistic, it's all I can say!

(also I didn't put the injured pullet back in with them... she passed away overnight in quarentine... she refused to eat)

 

[Miss Lydia]

sorry your little pullet passed away. and by all means start fresh and hopefully with a bigger dryer area they will all get along. It's not a guarantee though, but you just deal with issues as they come up. All the best to you.