4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Hi there

Just had my four beautifull girls from wonderfull volenteers in coventry, ex batts,first time for me and I cant stop watching them, one small problem three are looking not bad but the forth has no feathers and is in a sorry state, she eats and drinks fine but the other three girls keep pecking her I have taken too protecting her from them and she seems to know this is there anything I can do to stop this?

[laura 3]

I am having the same problem with my ex bats, I have 3, Rickey, Emma & Cleo. Rickey and Emma are failrly well feathered but Cleo is bald all down her back. I have had them 3 weeks and this morning went to open up eglu to find the Cloe squashed in the corner with her head stuck under the roosting bars. I thought she was dead. She had damage to her tail end where all her little feathers that had just started growing had been pulled out. She was in an absolute panic trying to fly out of the run to get away from the Rickey (Bossy Boots). I have tried putting extra food and water feeders in. Scattering food, put dust bath in. But Rickey will just not leave her alone, and will guard food. I have on order the netting fence to try and give them more space. But for now I have removed Rickey to another run situated close to the eglu, I can't see a way of having them all together. I feel that she will end up killing Cleo.

 

if anyone has any ideas I too would be pleased to hear them,

 

Iwish you luck with yours, it's very worrying

 

regards

 

Laura

[Egluntyne]

It will settle, but ex-batts can be aggressive, even though they are in a weakened state, because they have had to fight for every s"Ooops, word censored!" of food in the battery system....and it takes a while for them to 'unlearn' this behaviour.

 

I would put bumperbits on them all.....it will stop the injuries, and it would be a good idea to put out extra food and drink stations so that no-one starves.

[laura 3]

thanks for the advice will give the bumperbits a go

[sandyhas3chucks]

Oh dear ... I recently suggested that someone might like to try them. !

this was the posting that followed

:

Please don't anyone ever ever try one of those god awful beak bits, they are an absolute disgrace & the most cruel & vile things imaginable, hens don't have sweat glands & can only regulate their temps by panting using a mechanism called the gular flutter, they also need to filter their air intake via their nostrils for particles, these disgusting things keep their mouth permanently open creating temperature issues & particle inhalation, hens need to be able to "feel" their food with their beaks & these things do not allow this either, leaving a hen totally confused about what to eat.

 

I have had enormous success with Ukadex spray, it has to be so strong for hens to be able to be repelled by it & it does work, your garden will stink, but that is small inconvenience in comparison to a hen who can't regulate their temperature or tell what they can / can't eat. people have also snapped off large portions of their hens beaks while trying to put these things in & had bleeding issues as they clamp round their nostrils these hens have suffered enough all ready without resorting to such nasty tactics.

You need to remove the bully & give the bullied hen a break, there are lots of things that can be done, even if it means separating on a permanent basis, or if all else fails, return the hen to the rescue, the hens happiness & health should always come first.

 

Also follwed by the rescue saying they would remove any hens from people found using them!

 

I put this here for information & debate, as having ben in the situation myself I know how awful it can be.

The standard advice given with this problem with newies is, to remove the bullied girl, as she needs time to recover & regain strength. Even sugest taking the bully back, for replacing. If she is very bald and weak, they could seriously injure her and if she has any wounds will def need to be removed ntil they heal anyway or they will just keep pecking her. until...........................

It would probably have been better if they had given you them all in a similar condition really..

good luck, what ever you decide

[Egluntyne]

I have found bumperbits to be a quick solution to a difficult problem.

 

Sometimes the well-being of the entire flock over rides the minor and transient discomfort to one hen.

 

They very quickly learn to feed and explore with them on.

[sandyhas3chucks]

hmmmmm

I actually found with the space issue sorted out things settled, but did indeed have to separate until I got that sorted.

i do however think I must be the only person in the world that Ukadex DID NOT work for!

I also only tried the once & failed to put a bit on.

Just when it was all sorted properly the bullied lass had to be PTS

 

I know where you are coming from "E"..

never easy this chook keeping

[Snowy]

Ukadex is not working for me either. They just seem to nibble it off Gonna have to resort to bumper bits this week - especially with the new girls, I've no doubt they will be bringing the same problem with them. I've already spotted Anise having a nibble at Poppy's knickers. And Anise is the one with the least feathers

[indigopurple]

i had a similar reaction on another board about bumper bits.

 

my issue seems to have settled somewhat. i sat and watched my three and it was apparent that often Tarot behaviour made the issue worse. She would be at the top of the run quite happily minding her own business when she would make a sqwark, run past the other two bumping into them and getting a few pecks on the way. she seems quite disturbed and will pace backwards and forwards like those poorly kept animals in the zoo.

 

anyway someone recommended bach rescue remedy to calm her down and i gave her a few drops on some wet bread yesterday and it seems to have worked. she was less stressed and the two other hens left her alone. they moved much more as a flock last night when i let them out for a range around the garden. normally tarot is seperate from the other two.

 

she is also sprayed purple to cover the red from the pecks on her bare back. she is feathering up from the top down (is this normal?) and i am hoping when she finally gets feathered that it will settle completely.

 

it is very stressful though i am watching them at the moment like a hawk for a sign of anything untoward.

[chickencam]

I found that bumper bits were the only solution for ours and they all wore them for about a year, then when the bit fell off the worst offender we left it off and kept a close eye on them, then one came off the other main offender and she behaved too, so we only have one hen with a bit now and we did try to take it off but she got upset so we thought we would wait for it to come off on it's own which they tend to do after a few months.

[Olly]

Obviously opinions vary on this, but I have never heard of anyone on here injuring a hen by applying a bumper bit, most of us find it difficult to be firm enough the first time. I can see that you COULD cause injury, but you'd have to be pretty careless to do so.

 

My chicken did not starve, seem confused or suffer any ill-health at all as far as I could tell.

 

A lot of people have found them very successful where all else has failed, it's a last resort for me because I found the fitting difficult, but I'd do it again if I felt it was appropriate.

[sandyhas3chucks]

interesting abot the behaviour. that was just how my bullied girls was acting THOUGH I think it was because of the bullying.

Mostly my problems seem to a food issue as well as space.

I am having a fair degree of success with the water pistil, but that does require you to be there!

Def worth a try with the remedy, as if she isn't dashing about it might help.

So nice to have pleasant exchange of thoughts!

[Trudie]

Hi,

 

I used a nose ring for about 4 weeks and my hen seemed to get out of the habit of feather plucking. Flo is just started to show signs of losing some feathers again so if it gets bad I will fit one for another couple of weeks. I hated putting it on but I am glad I didn't waiver and remove it when I wanted to. I have noticed my hen's regulate their tempreture by opening their mouths and gulping so I woudn't think that it would be a problem.

[Settie]

I found that when I got my ex-batts at easter they were all quite nice to each other but one got left out a lot. Then a few weeks later when I got a hen from my freind all the ex-batts where a team and left the new one out. Over time they sort of let the other one join them. So i think you should get one or two more non ex-batt girls.