What is the best way to deal with aggression?

[JLS]

I will try to put a roost or 2 in the run. Thank you.

 

[RonB]

goldielocks
how deep is your sand? I am thinking about putting it in my 12x14 uncovered pen. I live 20 miles north of Seattle. and we have been known to get the occasional rain drop in the winter I don't want to end up with a mud hole. My flock does get to free range 3 to 5 hours a day.

 

[RonB]

JLS
I thought I was the ONLY one that talked to their chickens LOL. every night when they put themself to bed I go in and talk to each one and rub their chest. a couple of them will still peck me but not many my barred rock roo. is afraid of me ( guess thats good) he has a fit when I touch him. he trys to hide under one of the girls!

 

[Concordmommy]

You can try pinless peepers at eggcartons.com. Solved my pecking problem, along with freeranging them every day. Since then no pecking, hardly any tiffs, and they lay an egg each a day. Just a word of warning, however, eggcartons.com charges over 3 times what everyone else charges for the pliers that you use to put the peepers on. So if you've got time, buy the pliers elsewhere. They don't seem to have any explanation for me as to why they do this.

 

[Concordmommy]

oh, and also, you might try more protein. When i switched from flockraiser to layena they started the aggression. When I switched back and gave them flockraiser again (20% protein vs 16% in layena), with oyster shell, they went back to sane chickens again.

 

[JLS]

Quote:
I put hay over the dirt so my ladies don't get muddy. Every week I rake it up and put new hay down. I never thought about putting sand in there. Maybe it would be easier. But my girls love to search through the hay as well as eat it.

 

[JLS]

Quote:
Thank you for the advise. I am looking into every suggestion I have recieved. I will also check out how much protein my pellets have. Today I got oyster shell and added a roost to the run. I also picked up cracked corn to put on the coop floor to keep them occupied. Lastly, I let them out for a few hours to free range this evening. Let's hope!