Storms and chickens

[henny penny]

Hi we got our chickens on the 18th January and one of the gingernuts _ Babs decided she was boss and pecked everyone for a few days and this then settled once she started laying not long afterwards. The second gingernut Speckles started laying a couple of weeks later and everything was fine . Until last week- the Mrs Pepperpot - Betty Boop started to lay as well. Then three days later there was a commotion in the run and when we looked the two gingernuts were pecking and really going for Betty- in fact within half an hour (when things were ok ) Betty had a massive chunk removed from her rear end. we took her to the vets and she was put down. Things then toddled along sort of ok- I added chicken grit , spice lots of interesting things to eat - let them free range more but still one would have a go at the feathers of the other. I tried Bitter beak which helped for one day until today and we now have a chicken with a bald bottom. We have separated the two chickens in runs close to each other for tonight as I really dont want to lose another chicken. I am really at my wits end and my joy at having the chickens is rapidly diminishing. Is this normal with the gingernuts- I have spoken to other people who kepp lots more chickens and they havent had the same problems - please help!javascript:emoticon(':(')

[xScrunchee]

I really feel for you

 

I had to get rid of 2 Pepperpots because of this problem

 

I think that you should ring Omlet first thing in the morning and tell them. Everyone says that it's rare yet I keep reading about it again and again.

 

Wonder if the Pepperpots/Gingernuts are being over bred and it is causing behaviour problems??

 

Just seems strange to me that people keep saying things like this are happening yet it is supposed to be 'rare'.

 

Not fair on us first time chook keepers-we are led to believe that chicken keeping is fun, easy etc-but it's not when we have to go through things like this

 

I now have 2 new girls in with my original and they get on much better-thank goodness but I cannot help but to think that we should either have more warning about these things before hand or Omlet need to find out why their birds are having such behaviour issues.

[henny penny]

The weird thing is that Babs who was bossy in the first place is now the feather plucked! I dont think they have lice -ive had a look at the base of their feathers. When we separated them into two runs - Babs who now has a bald bottom was running up and down the run seeming to look as if she was missing Speckles who was in the run next door to her? I'm very confused and rather worried!javascript:emoticon(':cry:')

[Eyren]

I don't have much experience of hybrids but I have to say that the current lot of introductions are going much less smoothly than in the past. I wonder if the weather has something to do with it? The recent storms must be stressing our chickens quite a bit, and maybe they are taking it out on their fellow hens because they're scared and don't understand what's going on?

 

Right now I'm just praying for the storms to end and hoping my girls will start getting along soon!

[Chili]

Newbie chicken keeper question

 

Is a pepperpot the same as a speckledy hen? My speckledy hen strips the feathers off anything that moves despite a bumper bit, bitter beak spray and ukadex! I'm considering getting rid of her too

 

Chili xx

[henny penny]

A miss pepperpot is a hybrid cross ( maran/ rhode island red/ plymouth rock). they are pretty birds

[Egluntyne]

A pepperpot isn't the same as a Speckledy....it is a Black Rock or Bovans Nera....a black hen with Bronze feathers at the front.

 

Ukadex Spray is excellent as a preventative for feather plucking Read about it **here**

 

Hens other than those supplied by Omlet indulge in a spot of feather plucking.

 

Give them something to peck at in the run, other than each other. A cabbage will keep them amused for ages.

 

Allow then to free range as often as you can too, to keep them amused.

Edited March 10, 2008 by Guest

[Eyren]

Odd - my Speckledy was the most easy-going hen ever! (Got her from the One Stop Poultry Shop in Grantham.) I successfully integrated her with two bantams and only ever saw her peck them a handful of times in 18 months. Sad loss

 

I suspect it depends on the individual hen as well as the circumstances of their upbringing - just luck of the draw, really...

[Gallina]

I had a Pepperpot from Omlet which feather-plucked, but she learnt to do it when she was a year old, so she must have been self-taught. This was cured with a bumper bit.

 

I bought a Gingernut from Omlet last May who plucked the others from the moment she arrived, and it never got any better. A bumper bit cured the problem until her beak grew around it, and then she seemed to get worse, taking flesh as well as feathers and leaving the other hens bleeding as well as bare.

 

A week ago she went to live on a farm where a cockerel will keep her in order, and my other hens seem so much happier and are healing up nicely.

 

Some hens adapt well to a confined space, and some just don't. Farmers who keep hens in sheds often clip their beaks for this reason. When you first hear about this procedure, you think it is really horrible; but once you have seen the serious damage a plucker does, you do begin to understand that it isn't just done for the farmer's convenience. I don't know if any of you watch "Country File" on Sunday mornings, which is following a family that is planning to keep chickens and looking at all the options: they went to visit a very pleasant farm with chickens in a shed, and I noticed that one hen (just one among hundreds) had a clipped beak.

 

But don't give up until you have tried using a bumper bit, as they will at least give you six months' respite, and possibly solve things permanently. Buy some in all sizes, so that you can fit a bigger one when your chicken grows.

[cammy73]

Hi,

One of my gingernuts, willow is always feather pecking the other 2, i'm trying the spray from omlet at the moment...Willow can be so nasty and she will draw blood occasionally, but 99% of the time they all get along fine....I'm just hoping the spray helps other than that i'll try bumper bits....

Sharon x

[Keanie Bean]

I got my three chickens from omlet on January19th. Two pepperpots and one gingernut. I had no problems until the gingernut cam into lay. The other two, one especially laid into her and she was bare in the space of a day.

 

I lost her yesterday after she had been attacked by the others, her vent had been left wide open and bleeding. I'm not sure if this was down to anything else other than being attacked, but it is very sad and was unexpected.

 

I had used the spray supplied by omlet, but I dont think it worked very well.

 

 

Like you I had provided all I could to amuse my chooks, but I think the only solution is to seperate them, if its a persistant problem.

 

I hope you are able to sort out you feather pecking, its certainly a nasty experience for someone new to keeping chickens.

 

Sarah.x

[Eyren]

From what I've been reading recently, feather-pecking is a widespread problem for poultry-keepers and seems to be brought on by stress rather than boredom. That would explain why it often seems to be triggered by a change in circumstances such as one of the hens coming into lay - maybe some chickens are less tolerant of change than others? It's also unrelated to aggressive pecking by a dominant hen, which tends to be directed at the head, not the back or vent.

 

Don't be too hard on yourself - if the finest minds at Bristol Veterinary School are struggling to work out how to prevent it, we mere beginners can't be expected to solve it overnight

[Gallina]

I've just done a search on the internet, and there are numerous studies on the problem, but you can only read small portions of them without paying. There are some interesting factors: apparently it is more common among hens which drink out of bell jars (presumably because they have to bend over).

 

There is a lot about "cloacal cannibalism" which is what my Gingernut was doing, and which I found particularly vile. I am afraid I grew to dislike her, and I didn't find it at all hard giving her away to a farm.

 

I don't think it's boredom that makes them do it. I think they just enjoy it. The problem with a confined run is that the underhens cannot escape.

 

Do try a bumper bit: it really works, at least at first.

[henny penny]

Thank you for your comments. We are still deciding whether to use a bit. If we do then the vet will have to fit it with me holding her. i will order some of the revolting french spray but if all else fails the guilty chicken will have to be rehomed. Such difficult decisions- especially as we go on hols at the beginning of april!