hennymom Posted June 29, 2008 Share Posted June 29, 2008 we have had an experience today... not pleasant but we asked and took a lot of advice as to what to do in this situation and this may help...we had our hens at 3 weeks old, we sifted through a lot of breeders etc to get them and travelled 400 miles to get what we wanted! Our girls got on fine, no problems until about 4/5 weeks ago, then suddenly one poor little girl started to get bullied.... nothing changed, (I don't think),but she got picked on relentlessly..anyway we asked advice, we took advice... then we were told about bumper bits...and we thought EUREKA! we found out where the supply came from...keeping a close eye on the bullies in the meantime... we sent off for our bumper bits and thought we'd keep them close to hand as things had settled slightly...anyway we have had some bother again this week and I decided to try out a bumper bit...so here we go...after soaking the plastic bit in boiling water for a few minutes to soften it we brought the offending lady up to the house wrapped in a towel so as not to frighten her, stroked her and calmed her and she was quiet while we placed the bit into her beak.... brilliant we thought , she is calm and breathing and seems happy with the bit maybe... she'll leave off bullying the other little girl now................ however I stepped into the run with her and placed her on the run floor, and the other 5 girls must have thought she had a worm or something in her beak and flew at her...............no mercy here guys, they pecked and chased.....chased and pecked till all 5 were pecking at the poor girls head..................I was gutted, I had to chase the girls away so I could pick up the girl with the bit on....she was bleeding from her beak area and top of of her face where they had all pecked at her trying to get the bumper bit off.............................. noe we have had to take the bit off with a pair of pliers ..it was snug.. she has been sprayed with antiseptic, cuddled better and put back in with the others.... I wanted the bullying to stop not to increase by 100 fold... I will now try anti peck spray, as I don;t really want a repitition again, she feels very sorry for herself today, I don;t blame her but I don;t believe in an eye for an eye, even I could not watch her being pecked to death for the sake of a bumper bit... the reason I posted this is to make other hen owners aware of the consequences sometimes, we were given good advice and followed it to the letter but to no avail... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJuff Posted June 29, 2008 Share Posted June 29, 2008 Oh dear poor you and your poor chook bully. I have never heard of this happening before. We put a bumper bit on on of ours with now problem whatsoever. What will you do now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kannie Posted June 29, 2008 Share Posted June 29, 2008 Goodness how awful! We found the bumper bit was great, but your experience is anything but that. I do hope the anti-peck spray works for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Couperwife Posted June 29, 2008 Share Posted June 29, 2008 oh no we have used bumper bits before and had no problems, but we did put them on all of them at the same time (well, give or take a few hours) ours still peck / get pecked we have got some rather smelly stuff now (we havent had the courage to use it yet ) I hope things settle down cathy x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted June 29, 2008 Share Posted June 29, 2008 Dear me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cammy73 Posted June 29, 2008 Share Posted June 29, 2008 We have used bumper bits but put them on all 3 girls as I didn't want any others to start bullying. They were good while they were on but the bully is still feather pecking as she was before So its spray for us too!! Sharon x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura & CTB Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 I had this happen a while ago My post havent put the bumper bit back on Prada yet but then she seems to have given up feather pulling at the moment - maybe distracted by the new girls. If it starts again I guess both chooks will have to have bits Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superjules Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 That sounds like an awful experience. No experience of bumper bits here. but I guess in your case they'd all have to wear them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura&Sean Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 Oh that's really sad, hope the bullying settles right down soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
