Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: Mrs S on March 06, 2010, 18:09
-
Has anyone used the anti-pecking rings from the Wildfowl Trust, and if so what do you think?
-
Not sure if you mean the same thing as the Boredom Buster Pecking Ring from Flyte so Fancy I got one and it has been up a week and it doesn't look like they have worked out what it is yet. Maybe I have daft hens. Or maybe you mean the ones that go on their beaks.
-
Not sure if you mean the same thing as the Boredom Buster Pecking Ring from Flyte so Fancy I got one and it has been up a week and it doesn't look like they have worked out what it is yet. Maybe I have daft hens. Or maybe you mean the ones that go on their beaks.
Nope its not the same :D
beak bits fit on the beak and stop them pecking other birds :D
-
Yes sorry, I meant the anti-pecking bits for the beak. I have ordered some but not sure I want to use them!
Incidentally, I do have one of those boredom buster pecking blocks and I don't think I've seen my hens so much as look at it!
-
:) Hi Mrs S
Just fitted a anti pecking ring for the 1st time last week, went on relatively ok if you have the correct tool (in my case external circlip pliers) although she sat there good as gold under my arm whilst I put it on, however I did need a change of jacket, trousers and clean my boots after she evacuated the other end :tongue2: :D .
Best Regards
Steve
-
To make mine easier to put on i warm mine up in hot water first and it makes the bit more pliable
-
I have put them on 2 of my chickens. They have gone on easily but I have been filthy both times!!!!!! They do not seem to cause any destress to the girls after a few minutes they have been pecking about as usual. They are just our 'punk' girls. Fashion accesory for a chicken according to my 13 year old whos chicken wears one!
-
Thanks. I'll see how she gets on today. At the moment (fingers crossed!) they're all roaming the gardenand I haven't seen her attack any of the others. I don't mind getting filthy incidentally. I just don't want to lose any fingers whilst I'm putting it on :(
-
Hi
we used one on a particularly vicious hen who did not like new comers and pecked a bantam pekin to bleeding point. She didn't like it initially but after a few days she had got used to it and continued to lay. We left it on for quite a long time, probably too long and the beak grew to the point that she could close her beak again, so we took it off. Getting it on is not the easiest and getting it off was a case of clipping it off with nail clippers. I wouldn't hesitate to re-instate it if we needed to, no serious distress and immediate cessation of dangerous pecking.
Good luck,
Peachesandclive
-
Thanks very much. She's not been too bad today - think it's because they've got the run of the garden. She seems to be worse when they're enclosed in the run. I'll see how she gets on ;)
-
You maybe interested in this post thread Mrs S. http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=52669.msg627157#msg627157
I've used the simple D type beak bits and found them effective so I'd give them a try but also try to identify if there's a an underlying cause to this behaviour which can be eleiminated by husbandry changes . See the link I've pasted.
HF
-
I don't mean to hijack this thread, but does anyone who has experience of these beak bits know if they can be used whilst feeding mash (dry) can the hen still feed OK. Its just the one I have a concern about as she is partial to the odd bum feather. :ohmy:
-
Thanks HillFooter. I've read the link with great interest and have come to the conclusion that Agatha is simply a stroppy chicken! Nutrition isn't an issue as I'm feeding them Exbat crumbs. The only other thing I'm doing is giving them a little corn in the afternoon which they are all now taking (including Agatha) from my hand. Oh, I lie! I've also been hand feeding Nancy worms, in a Classical/bunches of grapes stylie..Only because they're all so cute and follow me round the garden :)
I'm thinking about the husbandry issue, and whilst they do have the run of the garden - which is big and interesting (and I've also tied a cabbage from the children's monkey bars) - I'm worried about leaving them confined in their run when we go off for the occasional weekend. I've 3 chickens, and they're run is 9 foot by 6. Agatha seems to be absolutely fine when they're out in the open, and the 3 of them sort of hang about together (although the other 2 seem 'closer'). The problem seems to be when they're conined. For example, Agatha goes to roost first, but will stay by the pop hole so the Daphne and Nancy have to literally wait for her to let them in. Incidentally, the other 2 have started sleeping in the nest box ??? The only other time she'll have a go at them is when for example, I've had to lift her off my asparagus bed, and she feels I've embarassed her..
Fingers crossed they're all happy enough together. Like I say, I think Agatha is simply bossy ::)
-
out of interest, has anyone got any pics of their hens with these rings on :)
-
Here's one on a VW, dble click on photo. She just needed this for about 4 weeks while the hen she was picking on was recovering from a moult. Once the new feathers came through and the bit was removed there was no more feather pecking.
HF