Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: new heather on April 11, 2011, 17:56
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I picked my 3 ex batts up on saturday and they seem to have settled in ok.
One of them is being bullied by the other two- aggressively pecked on the back of her neck! Is this normal? Are they just sorting out the pecking order?
The bullied one has a graze on her chest which looks like it may be bleeding-what shall I do?
Sorry for all the questions, I'm new to this chicken keeping fun. :blink:
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You need to spray her blooming bits with purple spray to deter the others from pecking at her. I got mine from my local horse supplier. Think it was about £5.
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Try some anti-pecking spray too, they really don't like the taste of it :nowink:
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I picked my 3 ex batts up on saturday and they seem to have settled in ok.
One of them is being bullied by the other two- aggressively pecked on the back of her neck! Is this normal? Are they just sorting out the pecking order?
The bullied one has a graze on her chest which looks like it may be bleeding-what shall I do?
Sorry for all the questions, I'm new to this chicken keeping fun. :blink:
they are sorting out the pecking order, but it can be brutal. Get some purple spray to mask any wounds, get plenty of toys and distractions for them, and if need be, separate the chief bully for a couple of days and reintroduce her at the bottom of the pecking order. You may have to play musical chickens for a few days. Hopefully things will sort themselves out. I had a terrible time with bullying, and in the end had to remove the bullied chook - she was rehomed up the road. The other 5 still squabble, but not to those extents.
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The purple spray is by a company called Lincoln and is called..Purple Spray (they thought long and hard for an imaginative name haha) I had a right game tracking it down and ended up getting it off the internet, but it works wonders. There was some bullying when I first had my ex-batts, but now they are a harmonious bunch. It takes a while, but they do settle. They just need time to learn how to be chickens with space, they're so used to being so squashed in with others that the frustrating need for personal space takes a while to wear off. Poor things.
As cejx says, seperate the bully if she gets too nasty, leave the others to have a bit of peace and this will put the bully back at the bottom of the pecking order. I had to seperate my bully hen a few times, leaving her where they could all still see each other, but couldnt physically get to each other. She was furious watching the others having a lovely time :tongue2: She learned eventually.
Fair play to taking on some ex-batts, they are harder work than 'normal' chickens, but I havent experienced anything more rewarding than watching them flourish. Its a complete joy :) Bravo.