dogmad Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 Whilst watching the chickens this morning I noticed that Margot kept pecking at Miranda's 'fluffy knickers'. After reading all the horror stories on here I'm worried that when I finish work I am going to get home to a bald/bleeding chicken. Margot is definately 'top' chicken amongst my 3. I have had them all for about 3 weeks now and they will probably be about 19 weeks old. So no eggs yet. Anyway so if I notice this is still happening when I go home what should I do. Should I look at seperating them, if so do I keep the bully on her own or the victim? Should I just seperate them during the day (it would be a run within the run) and then let them all back in the eglu together. Is there a way of punishing them? When I saw her doing it this morning I picked Margot up, to try and say 'oi I'm the boss around here' but then I went and gave them lots of dried mealworms mixed with flooring so it gives her something to scratch for today. Should I treat them with an anti peck spray? Should I be getting prepared and buying some bumpa bits? What makes it worse is that I am going away for a couple of days tomorrow and will be leaving my husband to look after them, and he isn't very keen on the chickens and will not be wanting to check them for feather plucking/bleeding etc. Help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piptiddlepip Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 I know this doesn't really help you right now, but some readers might remember I had this problem just a few weeks ago when I got my four, and it was incredibly stressful. My top chook, Esme, was bullying the others in what looked like a really extreme way - actually going for them, grabbing their feathers, the noise was awful. After about a week they all settled down and are all best friends. esme is still top chook but now she's established that, she doesn't seem to feel the need to bully the others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 I'd try the anti peck spray first and see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Pimlott Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 pecking to the point of drawing blood is usually done through boredom & not enough spacen get away from each other, you never find pecked birds when they are totally free ranged. it will not be bullying after 3 weeks in their new home, if i remember right you had your girls from us????? they have known each other from eggs!!! and shouldnt bully each other. they are bored, if pecking continues free range them together but have seperate sleeping arrangements especially if blood is drawn. cant remebmer what breed you had but they are sold at 15 to 17 weeks so they are 17 to 19 weeks ish now, this time of year birds mature slower, so it maybe a while before your first egg appears. Karen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogmad Posted September 16, 2008 Author Share Posted September 16, 2008 Hi Karen, This problem seems to have sorted itself and think maybe I was being too anxious! It only happened for a couple of days (no blood was drawn) and I haven't seen it happen since. I did spray them all with tea tree oil and then gave them more things to do/scratch around for. Its amazing how attached you get to them so quickly though, I was so worried that I was going to lose one of them! Thanks Debbie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
