[M1CYO]

Hi everyone,
I have had my four hybrid hens for nearly a year and have lost two of them over the last 6 weeks.  Last summer I had to seperate one of them which had been badly pecked on one of its legs and vent.  The hen had a nasty wound which the others were relentless in attacking.  After the hen recovererd over a few weeks I introduced the hen back and all seemed well.

About 6 weeks ago I noticed that the dominant hen was doing a lot of pecking of all the other hens and two of the hens had bald patches.  A week later I came out one monring to find one hen dead in the run with all of the other hens pecking it.

Yesterday I again saw one of the remaining 3 hens being attacked by the other two.  They had drawn blood at the hens vent.  The hen was obviously not in a good way and I cleaned it up and seperated it from the others.  This morning the hen is dead.

This is obviously very distressing and I am after some advice.  The hens have a very big run (6m x 2m) and plenty of room in the coop.  There are also things to climb on and places to scratch/dig in soil.

I feed the hens each day as opposed to having food available in a feeder all day.

Is there anything I can do to stop this behaviour.  The diominant hen does seem very aggressive when itr comes to pecking and this may start the other one off.  Any advice please!!!!

Thanks

Mike

[Beano]

Oh dear that must be distressing. I would definately separate the dominant hen but I understand you only have two left now.
 

I feed the hens each day as opposed to having food available in a feeder all day.

Not too sure what you mean by that, but they should have food available all day.
Sorry if I'm not very helpful. Let's hope someone more experienced can shed some light on what's causing it.

[helens-hens]

Sorry to hear what has happened, it sounds awful 

As Beano says, they really should have access to layers pellets all day and I think this could be part of the problem. I am wondering if the more dominant hens are trying to ensure they have the least amount of competition for the food when it is given to them.

Hope this helps.

[grinling]

Obviously you don't leave the food out overnight.
I don't have an overall dominant as the largest thinks I'm a cockerel
You could pick the hens up and carry around to show them that you are boss and not them.

[kegs]

I'm so sorry your chickens have died.  Have you given them a good check over to make sure they haven't got lice, and have you treated them recently (I use Frontline).  It could be that this is what started the feather pecking in the first place.

[Mickle]

Hello M1cyo

The problem of vent pecking is a right pain in the ass (scuse the pun) and although normally associated with Game breeds/Turkeys, all cooped domestic breeds can adopt the behaviour.
With Pheasants etc de-beaking is one method used as is installation of beak clips to combat this problem.
De-beaking is carried out with a special pair of cutters with a heated blade, the top mandible is cut back 1/8"-3/16" but no more than 3/16" , the same can be done with a hot knife.

Beak clips are designed to keep the beak slightly open and come in various sizes to suit, the ends are clipped by hand (probably got a machine nowadays) into the nose openings with the belly of the clip in between the Mandibles,

Its seems to be mainly boredom that starts this, and a few branches acting as cover for the victims will not go amiss as will dust bath areas and hanging greens to peck at, I have in the past used plants with Aphids etc to get them interested, try a feeding area with a little straw cover so that they can work for their food throughout the day and not for 5mins.
Hope this is of some help

[helens-hens]

Very good point from Mickle about the boredom aspect. Hanging greens are great boredom busters (I've used swede, cauliflower, cabbage and even the thick stem bit left over from broccoli) as with the greens bobbing about above them it makes it into a bit of a challenge for them. Do try and hang up a couple though so that the dominant hen doesn't get it all to herself.

I have never used the beak clips but I have heard they are very effective, I think you can get them from the Domestic Fowl Trust, online.

[drumstick]

We have 2 of our more dominant hens wearing beak clips and it stops the aggression immediately. The hens are so busy worrying about the newly fitted clips they forget about the weaker hens. The clip is easily applied using a pair of circlip pliers and it doesnt stop the bird from eating ,drinking or taking care of themselves. Always a worry when hens start attacking each other, but we found the clips work. Good luck.

[nerdle]

This beak clipping and putting htings on their beaks sounds so awful to me - isn't that what they did to battery hens becuse their lives were so unnatural?

If its boredom/not enough space no access to food then isn't it better to address that?

[bood77]

You should seperate the one that does all the pecking some chooks are meaner than others

[Kenilworth]

Certainly sounds like the lack of access to food through the day.

As resources are limited then the more dominant birds will get more aggressive to ensure that they get the majority of the limited resources, otherwise known as survival of the fittest!

[Kenilworth]

Certainly sounds like the lack of access to food through the day.

As resources are limited then the more dominant birds will get more aggressive to ensure that they get the majority of the limited resources, otherwise known as survival of the fittest!

Not really possible if from what i can understand they only have two birds left.

[M1CYO]

Thankyou for all of your advice.  The hens have more than enough food as they get spoiled rotten but i will now introduce a feeder so that food is available all of the time.

I will let you know how things go on.............

Mike

[M1CYO]

Hi everyone,

Unfortunately I have now seen that my dominant hen (who i think has issues!!) has been pecking at the vent of my other remaining hen and has drawn blood.  I have now had to seperate the dominant hen but unfortunately this leaves me with two hens on thier own.

I am getting to the opinion that I may need to dispatch the dominant hen before I get any new hens.

Any thoughts???

Thanks

Mike

[joyfull]

have you tried fitting a beak clip to the dominant hen - she will still be able to eat, drink but will not be able to grip any feathers as her beak will always be kept slightly open.