Patridge bantam chicken poorly foot?

[Beadle]

We got 4 chickens in July, 2 gingernut rangers and 2 Mrs Pepperpot. They have been fine until this week. We were away for a few days and had a babysitter and when we came home we noticed that all of the "bottom" feathers were missing and from 2 of the black ones. They were also looking a bit scruffy around the tail.

 

Yesterday we found out why. The ginger ones have been pecking the black ones to the extent that yesterday we noticed that one of them had wounds where it had been pecked.

 

These chickens have been together for the best part of 2 months. One seems to be particularly dominant and although they are laying and seem healthy in all other ways we are worried about the sores that one of them has.

 

Is this normal for them to be pecking each other so long after being introduced and what should we do?

 

Last night my husband separated them with a makeshift pen but is this the right thing to do or should we just let them fight it out?

 

What should we do about the wounds? It looks a little better today but we would appreciate any help anyone could give us...

 

Andrea

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Welcome to the forum, Beadle . Sorry to hear you're having trouble with your girls. I've no personal experience of this but have found some threads which might give you some ideas/advice. Good luck, keep us posted .

 

http://club.omlet.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=32740&p=514659&hilit=bully#p514659

 

http://club.omlet.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=31746&p=502878&hilit=+bully#p502878

 

http://club.omlet.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=29181&hilit=+bully

[Beadle]

Many thanks for finding these posts for me. I read with interest and will try some of the suggestions. I've ordered some anti-peck spray (and sprayed them with tea tree solution tonight until it arrives). We've also put some toys in and ordered a pecka block. The pecking was noticeable after we had been away and not been able to let them out so maybe boredom made it worse.... We let them free range all day today and will do the same tomorrow although we won't be in. Hopefully there are no foxes around!

If there is any more serious pecking we will separate them and try some of the other solutions.

 

Thanks again for all your help!

[jess]

I would just let them sort it out. I introduced a new hen very slowly and now sometimes they fight for a bit between them and sometimes they dont. I know how distressing it looks but I do believe the best thing is to just leave them to it