[sarah*]

Hello all...

Been a while...
Unfortunately one of my lovely hens is being bullied - twice now in the morning when we have let them out we have discovered feathers inside their house.
Is there anything I can do, my lovely gingerbelle has always been at the bottom of the pecking order but we have never seen evidence of her being physically bullied and has a patch of plucked out feathers...
In the last week to two weeks they haven't been very happy, we were feeding them a lot of corn and recently bought a different variety of organic layers which they refused to eat - they now are eating better after changing their feed again but think this could have unsettled them...could this be a reason why our gingerbelle is being bullied??

Any advice would be gratefully received!!

many thanks all - Sarah*

[muntjac]

have you done anything diferent like bringing in new birds  or anything else other than the feed change if not take the bully out and box it up on its own some place and then the pecking order wil change for the bullied bird .also check  that there isnt anything different about the bird being bullied werms and or mites is she blooming if so she will continually be harrased ..hang lettuces / cabbages up ijn the coop to distract them

[Aunt Sally]

Get some gentian violet (purple spray) available from horse feed suppliers and sometimes from pet stores.  Spray the pecked areas with this.  Make sure you wear gloves and some old cloths too  :roll:  

If she had been injured you might need to separate her from the others until it heals, but make sure they can still see each other though.

[sarah*]

Hi - thanks for the advice, she's generally pretty healthy, they all are but since all the rain and the mess up with the food they haven't been laying - only half of them are at the moment, maybe I've missed something...Gingerbelle's bald patch is on her neck and isn't blooming, this morning there were quite a few feathers in the house...

[psipower]

Maybe a bit of special attention may help as well.

We had one hen who was so nervous she hardly ever ate - as soon as she started to put her head down she had to look up to see who was there! She even ran away from grains of corn tossed in her direction

Basically, I fed the others to distraction one way, while flipping food near her. As soon as the others started wandering towards her, I distracted them with some more food to catch their eye away. After many days, I could throw food directly at the nervous one, and after about a week she was feeding in closer. A couple of weeks of encouragement and she now shares a feeder or a corn frenzy with most of them, and eats from the hand. I know which hen still feels the need to assert her authority over her (next one up in the order), so I can always give that hen something to think about (me 'pecking' her ) when I see her move in.

I suspect feeding well has helped her significantly.


One possible side effect of attention:

When I am around, they will ignore the pellets in their feeders, and wait until I hold out handfuls of the stuff for them, whereupon they (3-4 chickens each hand) will devour voraciously. Cupboard-love or what?

[sarah*]

hi - thanks for that, I have just been with them and there are two who are definitely picking on her, I fed them all spinach which they love and made sure she got some, she has turned in to a nervous wreck and runs away as soon as she thinks  another hen is coming towards her, I don't really know how to stop it, only making sure she is healthy...

[Aunt Sally]

She sounds as though she is being beaten up to me  :evil:

It's not just feather pecking.  This is just viewed by the chooks as grooming and the plucked hen usually remains quite passive while becoming oven ready  :shock:  (and I like to think hens are quite bright -  :roll:  )

There is a really good spray from SPR called anti peck spray.  It contans stockholm tar by the smell and colour of it.  I've used it and it does stop pecking.  Make sure you wear gloves and don't get it on anything but the pecked chook if you can manage it.  I would not recommend using it constantly as I'm sure the sprayed chook does not find preening much fun  

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/spr/page10.html