When to move penhen

[strawn28]

I have a 9 month old pen hen. She is in with year old male they seem fine but she is pushing herself into corner and breaking all her tail feathers off. She eats drinks but I'm wondering if I can put her out with our full adult peas one hen one male? Or is she still too young?

 

[izigg]

I tried putting my young females in with my male before they were mature and he got too aggressive and I had to separate them until now when they are mature and now mating

 

[strawn28]

Ok any idea why she is breaking her tail feathers

 

[izigg]

When you say breaking them off, do you mean she is plucking them out or biting them in half thereby breaking them? A possible nervous disorder ??? Is she being beaten up by other birds? Have you watched her do this? Do you have other birds in with her and if so what kinds ? My friend had a rather large and very mean rooster with his and they did not get along at all and finally he got rid of the rooster as it was plucking the pea hens and beating up on them. My females are constantly nipping at my males tail feathers when he spreads, it seems they like the soft tissues or excess skin coating the quills and nip at it and eat it sometimes snapping his feathers and they break and hang. I would have no idea why your bird is breaking her feathers unless she has maybe a lice of sorts? If she is backing up being cornered by another bird or being harrassed by the male it is possible he is responsible for making her back into a corner snapping her feathers, Im sorry Im not much help on this I guess. I have only seen busted feathers on my male or plucked whole ones sometimes more frequently on the females but Ive not seen any of my females break any of their tail feathers ? Do you have a trail cam you could put up to catch what is happening? How large is your pen perhaps more space would help or maybe it is time to separate them ? The literature posted on raising pea fowl I found to be very helpful, there are suggested pen sizes per birds and Ive seen some very cool structures built. There are some very knowledgeable people on here that you could better assist you and also send private messages to for less open chat if you prefer.

 

[strawn28]

They are not plucked out they are like broke and ruffled. She is with a one year old male and we have kept and eye on them she always has food/water first and goes where she wants. I have never seen him aggressive toward her. I wondered nerves since this is first pen that has outside run otherwise she has always been inside. I didn't know if that would play a part. We are in process of expanding that pen as well. I never thought lice I'll check her... I was gonna do ivomec on shoulder

 

[izigg]

Lice is just my guess or nerves but again I'm just guessing. I just recently got into raising peas and having troubles as well but this forum is great for help. Hopefully someone else has more insight in the possible problems. At first my females were fine with my male but after a few hrs of him not getting the attentions he wanted he then got aggressive and didn't want them around him and nipped and chased them away until I finally caught wind of what was happening and separated them , however that does not sound like what you have going on. If there is too narrow a passage in her pen somewhere she is turning around quickly it could be snapping her tail feathers if they get caught up . Does she have enough head room if she gets startled and flys straight up into a low ceiling she could be breaking them that way but again Im just guessing at likely causes. Have you any pictures of your pen area with your birds? Maybe that would help shed some light ?

 

[KsKingBee]

Sorry, I got nuthin', but Iaigg has some very good ideas for you to follow up on. Being cooped for so long lice do come to mind first, then general nutrition, then pen space and aggression.