Anti Pecking Products?

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Carrie99

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Anti Pecking Products?
« on: October 03, 2012, 10:51 »
Hi there,

Sorry if this is a topic that's already been posted - I done a quick search and couldn't quite find the advice I was after (if there is a post then feel free to point me in that direction :-).

Anyway though, having a little trouble with one of the chooks that has been introduced recently. My eldest hen, Dori, is being particularly mean and quite brutal towards her. At the moment Dori is seperated in the hope this'll knock her down the pecking order a bit but I am thinking of being proactive rather than reactive (which seems to have been my philosphy so far!) and getting some anti-pecking spray in as well. I seen Skarper, which seemed to get ok reviews but wondered if there are any pros/cons of this and if perhaps people prefer a certain product?

Thanks in advance :-)

CArrie

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helens-hens

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Re: Anti Pecking Products?
« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2012, 13:20 »
I have never used them myself but I am not sure how effective these sprays are (have just read another thread about the same thing).

If things are getting bad you can get anti-pecking bits (the Domestic Fowl Trust used to to sell them if you look at their website) which I belive you fit on the beak of the guilty hen and though they don't stop the pecking they do help prevent injury to the victim and from what I have read on this forum are quite effective.

Helen

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Mrs Bee

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Re: Anti Pecking Products?
« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2012, 19:26 »
We tried anti pecking spray and it had no effect.

 The lady I buy my hens from told me to use vicks vapour rub which worked most of the time unless we had a real bully.

Nothing stops our Tilly so we had to segregate.

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angelavdavis

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Re: Anti Pecking Products?
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2012, 20:27 »
I tried the standard anti-peck products but they weren't successful, then I found out about Ukadex anti peck spray which is a darn sight more expensive than most alternatives. 

It works after one application, however it is horrifically nasty smelling! 

The smell gets on your clothes, etc and even after washing still hangs around.  I usually spray the chicken(s) and then strip and put the clothes straight into the washing machine!

A clue is what is written in French on the front - bombe repulsive!
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Elvira

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Re: Anti Pecking Products?
« Reply #4 on: October 04, 2012, 16:23 »
I had a problem with feather pecking and tried the Nettex spray. Really strong smelling! I also hung up some pecking blocks to distract the other hens. One way or another it worked and the pecked hen is now the biggest most feathery gal in the coop!

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orchardlady

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Re: Anti Pecking Products?
« Reply #5 on: October 04, 2012, 20:58 »
You could try distraction. Hang up CD's to twizzel around, mmm interesting. Also hang up cabbages or cabbage leaves. Everyone will love them and spend more time pecking swinging leaves than each other!

Orchardlady


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Carrie99

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Re: Anti Pecking Products?
« Reply #6 on: October 05, 2012, 09:39 »
Hey, thanks for all the advice, I'm trying to give them more distractions at the moment (CD's, food etc) but it seems like Dori just finds being a bully much more fun than any of the other things going on ;-), I think I might get some Ukadex just to cover all angles anyway though. The bullied hen is getting a lot stronger though so hopefully she won't find being bottom of the pecking order quite so traumatising soon!

On that note, I had removed the bully temporarily - after what period of time would people suggest I return her to the coop?

Carrie

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darkbrowneggs

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Re: Anti Pecking Products?
« Reply #7 on: October 05, 2012, 10:47 »
Is the bully pulling feathers out and/ or drawing blood?  In which case check she is getting sufficient protein especially as this is the time of year for moulting and regrowing feathers can take a lot of effort.

On the otherhand she may just be an unpleasant or very stressed hen. 

You could try keeping her apart for about a week, and when she goes back in tie (comfortably) a cardboard luggage label to her leg, which may distract her till they have settled back down.  Otherwise a bumper bit might help
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Carrie99

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Re: Anti Pecking Products?
« Reply #8 on: October 05, 2012, 12:16 »
The girl she is bullying isn't terribly feathery at the moment due to her past (I added two ex-free range to my one remaining girl - the bully) but she wasn't so much pecking as pecking and then refusing to let go, around her neck, she didn't draw blood but Fran was terrified ...I could be acting a little overpretective but I worry that if I wasn't there when it last happened it would have been a lot worse.

I could go down the bumper bit road I suppose though, I hadn't considered these much really, I know this is a probably a dumb thing to say, but are they quite acceptable/comfortable etc?

Carrie

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darkbrowneggs

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Re: Anti Pecking Products?
« Reply #9 on: October 05, 2012, 14:41 »
I have never used a bumper bit on any fowl, so I can't comment, but sometimes hens will eat others alive, so I suppose on welfare ground it would be preferable to that  :(  the only other option being to cull the offenders

Do you think they might sort it out if you left them to it?  That sort of behaviour is something I have never come across.  Was the bully trying to jump on Fran's back and pecking the back of her head/neck?

Are the two ex-free range both laying?

And what has happened now there is Fran and just one ex FR together?

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Carrie99

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Re: Anti Pecking Products?
« Reply #10 on: October 05, 2012, 15:30 »
Yes, that's true (re the bumper bit).

I'm hoping when I reintroduce her they'll sort it out. She was partially trying to jump on her, initially just pecking/snapping at her quite a bit but on that instance actually half on her and grabbing her neck and refusing to let go. Her neck is the least feathery part of her too so it's quite easy to get a strangle like  hold on it I suppose (if you were a chicken, that is).

Both free range are laying yes, although Fran not as frequent as the other (every other day). There is some very slight bullying between these two, with fran being the bullied still, but nothing as serious, just the odd attempted peck or very slight peck here and there. Apparent all the same though. Fran is very much the least feathery of them all though and as such appears a bit smaller as well...

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darkbrowneggs

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Re: Anti Pecking Products?
« Reply #11 on: October 05, 2012, 18:24 »
If the one that you have isolated is laying then it might just be the pecking order being established, and Fran is obviously going to be at the very bottom and pecked by the other two. 

It did just cross my mind that as they were older hens, if there had been any problems in the past - hens only have one functioning ovary and if that is damaged through illness or infection and ceases to work effectively the hen stops lay and takes on male propensities, even to the point of crowing and trying to mate, though they cannot become fertile

But if the bullying hen is still in lay this is unlikely.  See how it goes, it might all settle down more easily than you think.

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Carrie99

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Re: Anti Pecking Products?
« Reply #12 on: October 06, 2012, 09:33 »
Ah yes, she is laying - phew though, that would have been an interesting turn of events! It did occur to me though that she was acting a little like a cockerel in her manner of attack! Hopefully they'll just sort it out without too much harm being caused...I'm going to try and reintroduce Dori slowly over the course of this weekend and see how it goes :-s



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