I have 13 chickens and 1 rooster (by accident ) They are about 7 to 8 weeks old .. the feed store were not sure when they were hatched. I have had them in the garage in a large area until they feathered out and until the coop is finished. I have been letting them out 3 times a day for about 1 hr each time to peck around and get fresh air. The rooster, and 2 other chickens have decided to peck all the others until they bleed and are missing many back feathers. I used blue coat.. poor things look pretty pathetic. I then tried "pick no more" I went through one bottle today (small) I finally built another area to house the bullies and have had no more picking.. when should we try again putting them in together ? should I wait until the poor little others are all feathered out? Any suggestions?? Thanks.. P.S The coop is almost finished.. the plans for a plain simple coop have flown the coop..my husband is building the coop of all coops LOL will post pictures when its done the lumber yard must love him !
I would try leaving them out longer. I have a section in my coop run that I've temporaily fenced off for the babies. they stay out all day long, and we put them up between 5~7pm. With more area to play and more time to play maybe they'll wear themselves out and pick at each other less.
Many times it is caused by boredom. More time outside, a larger area, or sometimes even a head of cabbage will keep them occupied. You will need to keep them seperated until the others have healed. Once they taste blood it is pretty hard to break them of the bad behavior. Watch the ones that have been pecked and make sure they don't start pecking each other.
