# I don't know what to do about my pecking problem!!!



## Noir (Jan 15, 2013)

Im going to give a full background on my birds because i can not for the life of me figure out how to stop them from pecking each other. I have five hens and one silkie roo. They live in a four foot wide, four foot tall, and three feet long coop with an open top that has chicken wire over it. (This coop is inside an actual chicken coop that we use as a shed). There are three nesting boxes attached to the out side of the coop. We usually get five eggs a day. I am still working on making the coop bigger. They go outside everyday. In the pen, they have a bush, and old wooden chair and bench, straw to peck at, and I toss scratch in there every morning. There is a small opening that leads to a larger fenced in area. In the area there is a dog house, a pine tree, tall grass, two tree stumps, flock block, and that have full access to our compost. In my opinion that have plenty of things to peck at and to keep them occupied. I have been using blue kote from the very beginning of my packing problem. I have also used pine tar, (huge mistake) chicken saddles, and recently as a last resort tried pinless peepers (?) but that seemed to hurt them. They rarely spend time inside the coop. Mainly when they are in the nesting boxes or when they sleep. Even then some sleep outside. They eat and drink at separate times so its not like they are all crowding around the food and water. This morning, one of my Easter eggers was bleeding a tini bit. All of them have bare backs and bare, what I call, elbows. Some are worse than other. Their tails are short obviously pecked on as well. Some have been pecked at around their face. I have posted on the forum before and have had no luck with any of the suggestions. I have asked people i bump into that have chickens, employees at both feed stores i go to, and no one knows what I should do. I am going to call Tufts tomorrow and see what the vets say. If any one has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate them. I love my birds so much and will do anything to make them happy. Also I should probably add what kind of birds I have. One silkie roo, two Easter eggers, one RIR, one NHR, and one Australorp (sp?) I had another Australorp but it turned out he was a rooster. We let him stay for a while, but when he mounted them he would pull out feathers on their back. Which is why this all started. Now he is dinner.


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## DottieB (Mar 15, 2013)

I hope someone can help you. I am still new to chickens. It's sounds like you have done a lot already. Do you know which one is pecking at the others?


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## birdguy (Jan 15, 2013)

Okay, if you go to your feed store they have this stuff called blue kote, it helps also bitter apple.. I had a bantam with five standard breeds and they would Peck her, i put some bitter aPple on and the got a taste of that and immediately stopped..hurray don't get or in their eyes...i hate when they peck at each other but now all is good i wish all chickens wOuld just get along but no...that'd be too easy they do have these things that you put on their break its lite glasses so they don't have peripheral vision to peck


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## birdguy (Jan 15, 2013)

Try hanging lettuce or veggies and fruit to keep then busy too beside pecking one another where my family comes from we would just let them range all of the property.... Miss those days in DEUSTCHLAND


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## Apyl (Jun 20, 2012)

A coop that is 4ft x 3ft is only 12 sq ft. Your only giving each hen 2.4 sq ft. That could be one issue, the next is chicken automatically pick at anything red, so if your rooster drew blood they will pick that hen until she dies. Blukote will cote it blue and seal it . Feather eating is due to low protein. I would up their protein, this can be done with scrambled eggs. Does your flock have a pen ? I didn't see in your post how big the pen/run is . Chickens will peck each other when crowded as well.


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## Noir (Jan 15, 2013)

Thank you everyone for your help!

DottieB- everyone is pecking on everyone. :/ it isn't just one bird. That would be too easy.

Birdguy- I have been using bluekote. I will try bitter apple. I tried the glasses (pinless peepers) and it hurt them too much. I will try hanging veggies.

Apyl- I make my own scratch that has cracked corn, black oil sunflour seeds and mealworms. The lady at the feed store said don't feed them too many mealworms because they have such high protein it could cause kidney problems. But do you think I'm not giving them enough? I was looking at pens online and ones that are similar to my size can hold up the 9 chickens. (?!?) Their pen is big. I'm going to try deworming them and see if that helps. Here are some pictures. Maybe I'm doing someone wrong that I don't know about. Again, thanks for all of your help.









This is the coop. There is a perch about a foot off the ground and a feeder and waterer across from the nesting boxes.









This is them in the compost









And this is the addition I added to the original pen. And that's just a part of it.


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## Noir (Jan 15, 2013)

I also want to mention the pen is not all tall grass like in the picture, it's half toll grass and half dirt/straw/short grass


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## Apyl (Jun 20, 2012)

The run part looks fine, the coop looks small but if its working for you then that's all that matters. As for the protein I can see why they may not be getting enough. Making the proper homemade feed that will give them all the vitamins and requirements they need is like a fine art. In order to get it all correct it will cost a small fortune. But again if that's what works for you then that's all that matters. Just from what I read and seen with the pics I would guess that they started the picking while in the coop . But again that's a guess. General rule of thumb is 4 sq ft a bird in the coop unless free ranging then its like 3 sq ft a bird, and like everything else chicken related it all comes down to what works for you. Everyone will have their own opinion on space, feed, issue causes, ect. I would cover any wounds with blukote and keep an eye on them. If you notice more blood when you open the coop up in the mornings you'll know its a space issue. If they continue to peck and you see them eat the feathers then you will know its a feed issue. Good luck.


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## Noir (Jan 15, 2013)

They have free access to regular food too. I just bought de-wormer. I really don't know what else to do. I'm afraid I may have to split them up and give them away.


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

My hens went through a similar bout of madness earlier this year.... I gave them extra food, made doubly sure they always had water, gave them toys and treats to keep them occupied...... turned out they stopped when I added extra hay to their next boxes and it stopped raining for days on end. Not sure which caused them to behave themselves but I'm not going to complain either way..... Sometimes figuring it out can be tricky. If you think too many mealworms are harmful maybe you could try giving them other bugs. You can buy crickets, roaches, bait worms.... heck you could probably dig up some bait worms. Just look into it first (as I honestly don't know if there's any adverse effects to this but I do know having your own bug colonies is usually easy and much cheaper than buying them.) Good luck figuring it out! Also if you figure out who is the worse offender I find sometimes keeping them in a metal dog crate within the run for a day or so sometimes helps put them in their place. Kind of gives them a reality check.


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## ellis36 (Mar 25, 2013)

In the cold winter days I put a fork of hay in one corner with a handful of pelletized feed in a couple of places on the hay. It seems to keep them occupied with something to search for…which is the default mode for a chicken.


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## GenFoe (Apr 3, 2013)

Tufts as in the animal hospital in Massachusetts?


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## Noir (Jan 15, 2013)

Yes tufts in north grafton. I've started spraying bitter apple on the birds as well as the blue kote. We'll see how that goes. Still waiting to here back from the dr.s at tufts.


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## GenFoe (Apr 3, 2013)

I'm in mass too, out in the brookfields. I hope your feather issue gets resolved!

Here's what the chicken chicks blog says:

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/03/chicken-feather-loss-cannibalism-causes.html?m=1


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## PRF_Stone (May 27, 2013)

OK. The pecking problem could be from age difference. if you would message me the ages then I might be of more assistance. If your coop is too small then that is a huge problem! Chickens, ecspecially male chickens are VERY, may i repeat, VERY territorial! All chickens need space just like a human will often get angry if someone is too close, or if you are in a small room with a large amount of people. This is most likely your problem. Chickens are naturally scavengers so they are going to be outside most of the time. I think that if I knew the number of chickens that you have i could help more also. Each chicken needs a little ove a half a foot of space, or more. Your chickens should also be able to move freely without squeezing through each other in the coop. I think that they are doing something very natural. BEING TERRITORIAL OR FINDING THE PECK ORDER. If you mix chickens of different ages, or OLD chickens with Young chickens they will have to RE-EN-STATE the PECK order every time you add new, or younger chickens. HOPE THAT THIS HELPS!!!


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## Noir (Jan 15, 2013)

I have five hens and one silkie roo. They are all the same age and all came together in a shipment. Tufts was no help. They wanted $150. I'm pretty sure my coop is big enough. According to this picture, my coop is that same size but with an extra foot in length. The website said that coop is for six chickens. And my outdoor pen is WAY larger than the one shown. Does anyone have experience with pinless peepers? I tried them but it seemed to hurt my hen so I took it off. When I read things online about them people say they don't hurt and it doesn't affect their breathing. Thank you all for your suggestions.


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## Apyl (Jun 20, 2012)

Personally I would not believe the specs when they say a certain number of chickens will fit. They could be measuring for bantams, or even calculating for less space than thebirds will tolerate. In a coop that size I would not put more than 3 birds maybe 4 tops if they are breeds that are on the smaller size. In general each bird needs 2 1/5 - 3 sqr ft a bird. Some of the larger breeds may require more to not feel cramped while smaller breeds may not need as much.


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## camel934 (Sep 9, 2012)

I usually go with a minimum of 4sqft per bird


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## briannasellars (May 14, 2013)

They could have molted and are not getting enough protein to grow the feathers back.


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