Vent Pecking Deaths

[michody]

We had 80 chickens each with 8 square feet of indoor space. A few weeks ago they started vent pecking to the point of killing each other. I get 1-3 dead chickens a day. I am now down to 50ish chickens. I cannot keep going like this. I have tried the peepers but that only helped for about 2 days. They have roosts, nesting boxes, and I give them things like pumpkins and flock blocks to peck at. I have raised chickens for 15 years and never seen anything like this. Any ideas?

 

[FridayYet]

We had 80 chickens each with 8 square feet of indoor space. A few weeks ago they started vent pecking to the point of killing each other. I get 1-3 dead chickens a day. I am now down to 50ish chickens. I cannot keep going like this. I have tried the peepers but that only helped for about 2 days. They have roosts, nesting boxes, and I give them things like pumpkins and flock blocks to peck at. I have raised chickens for 15 years and never seen anything like this. Any ideas?

Sounds like they might have been crowded. Do they have outdoor space as well?

 

[michody]

Right now they don't have outside space. The back of our barn is next to a field and the farmers don't want to chickens in them.

 

[Beekissed]

Could you tell us the breed, ages, what you are feeding and give us good pics of your setup and birds? Cannibalism almost always turns out to be from too little space causing the birds to be overstressed, but it sure would be nice to have more details.

 

[Vermont Poultry]

Wow that is crazy, I didn't know a single chicken could peck on another till point of death, chickens seem bomb proof weird to think this could happen. I would monitor them maybe even put a game camera or something in their to watch them.

 

[Vermont Poultry]

Any update as too what happened or how it was fixed? I am really curious.