[Bev]

Hi,

I have two lovely chickens.

A friend of mine had 2 chickens that she kept in a very small run. One of them died and she wasn't sure if it was because the other one had pecked her to death. Both of her hens seemed to do a good deal of pecking.

So she asked me to take her other chicken. If I didn't take her they were going to take her back to the farm where they bought her from where they let retired hens run about in a huge polly tunnel.

'Daisy' arrived and immediately established herself as boss but doesn't seem to peck most of the time. However I have one hen who is laying and she is getting pecked on the front of her neck. I can only think that this must be happening when she goes to lay. She has a bald patch but it is not bleeding. I have been spraying her with the anti-pecking smelly spray but this does not seem to have helped.

I am not sure whether to keep Daisy or see if my friend will take her to the farm. They free range all day and I don't see them pecking so it must be happening in hen house.

What would you do?

Bev

[ehs284]

Hi Bev,
I can't answer your question, but have a couple for you ;-)
Are you sure the feather loss is due to pecking?
Pecking in the nest box is not usually a problem and on perches the pecked hen keeps her head down.

Is the skin red, signs of mites or contact with chemicals or rough surfaces or is it a partial moult?
When not in the coop does the 'pecked-one' avoid the 'pecker'?

If it is pecking then :- quite a lot of us have found the purple spray to be ineffective. There are other safe clean materials such as vaseline for spot treatment (also soothes the affected area) but you'll find many more with a google search.

[Bev]

Hi,

Hi EHS,

I am pretty sure it is pecking and not moulting. It is one patch on the front of the neck. The skin is ok but just a patch of feathers missing. I know she is still laying because my three chickens all lay different coloured eggs. I do spray the hen house with poultry shield once a month and have completely cleaned and changed all the bedding in August. Haven't noticed any scratching.

When out of the coop she does move away if Daisy walks towards her but she doesn't screech and sprint off like my other hen does. That one is feather perfect. When they first met the pecked hen was the one that fought for the role of head hen but they seemed to have it sorted by the next day.
 Watching them wandering around the garden they seem to go round more or less together and every now and then I will see one sprint across the garden to be with the others.
The spray that I have is a bitter tasting spray which also has soothing stuff in it. I find I usually cover myself in it and it stinks and tastes like the stuff that stops you biting your nails. Euuugghh!

[ehs284]

Hi, Yes it is horrible isn't it! If they're not fighting outside and are laying then I'd suggest vaseline and watch what happens. It can't be too ferocious if there is no blood so with any luck things will settle. Pecking and so called pecking order is something very complicated and not simply top down control.Sometimes I watch ours settling for the night; it's like watching boys pillow fighting and seems quite rough then a few minutes later they are snuggled up close to one another. Fingers crossed for a happy end to your worries.