Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: spencekelliem on June 20, 2010, 22:48
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I picked up 4 ex batts 2 weeks ago last friday, they all came from the same place and had been in the same outdoor run when i picked them up.
They vary massively in covering and in the beginning, the little naked one was being pushed out of the way by the bigger, more feathered birds.
But now, the little naked on is really bullying the other girls, ive seen her actually sitting on top of one of the other girls pulling her feathers out.
Are they just sorting the pecking order and i should leave them to it? or is there something i should be doing to stop the big one being picked on?
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They will be sorting out their pecking order, especially if they've been taken from an area where there were other chickens as their whole previous structure will have changed. It can take a while for them to do this and is not pleasant to watch. If they are doing any serious damage you could get some beak clips to put on the bully. You might also want to have some purple spray handy, (not sure what it's called), to spray on any raw or blooming areas. The site of a bit of blood will make them all attack and the spray masks this.