Eglu Go With 2m Run For Sale

[stoice]

I've been lurking around on another forum (Gasp! I'm sorry, just nosey at other peoples set up so wanted to add a comment, before i knew it i had joined)

Well, here I am, giving some advice to someone who has a girl who pecks all her other girls and eats the feathers.

Fromt the advice I've read on here I suggested maybe using a bumpa bit.

Well.

The response from other chicken fans was not great...

 

'I've not used them myself, but I understand that there can be problems with their use.'

 

'Out of over 70 hens over the years, I've never had a prolonged problem, so can only assume space may be the key.

As for the rings, personally I am completely against using any artificial means. They work yes, but as soon as you take them off, they're back to square one before you know it.'

 

'I agree entirely here. These things can cause great damage to beaks. You don't get farmyard chooks pecked, because they have room to get away. Maybe straw bales in the run for them to get onto or hide behind. Also once taken off the problem probably will still be there.'

 

Are they so bad?

 

I tried fitting one to an ex-batt last year but her beak was so trimmed she couldn't eat, that's the only down side i could find. Other than that I'd have thought they'd be ok.

 

That'll teach me to wander about on other forums!

[Redwing]

*sigh* where to start..

 

Its a tricky subject

 

Personally I wouldnt use them, I have tried and failed to fit them in the past but the more I learn about chooks the more I think there are probably better options

 

I'm going to be controversial here but stick with me for a mo - I think the 'clinging' to the idea that you CAN fit X chickens in a run so should is causing behavioural problems in some flocks - these can be solved by supplying more room and some interest in the run so the poster does have a very good point there. (thats not to say that I dont have pens that are overfull - I'm no angel myself)

 

There is no formula for how many chickens can be penned together and thinking that way will doom some to failure, its whatever level the chickens are happy at thats most important

 

Some chickens have a need for extra protein and a diet lacking in it is often used as an explaination for feather pecking (they would normally eat the feather in this case)

 

(if you are still with me at this point I am not indicating that your chickens dont have enough room or decent feed, just trying to explain the comment you posted from the other forum)

 

Having said all of that I do believe that despite all the room, care and management in the world some chickens just cant help themselves and seem compulsive in their habits, I had a hen that absent mindedly and zombielike plucked feathers from the behinds of sleeping hens for instance!

 

Its this situation where I think bumper bits have a place, very 'hard coded' hens will recommence when the bit is removed, others dont go on to continue the habit

 

A properly fitted bumper bit should cause no damage however they are tricky to fit and wrong or rough fitting will cause problems

[stoice]

I totally agree about the space issue Redwing. Especially as there are so many set ups sold telling people how many hens it COULD fit that clearly isn't taking into account how many you SHOULD fit. I'd also mentioned more protein in diet and agreed with others re: boredom.

 

I was just concerned over any damage to my birds that may occur if i used them, as I'd never heard of it before. x

Edited April 21, 2010 by Guest

[Margalot]

I had to Bumpa bit one of my obssesive feather plucking hens, she would follow the other 2 constantly pecking at their behinds. space was definately not an issue, we have a cube for 3 hens, a 2 m run extension and then the full omlet netting run attached which they are allowed out at getting up time till bedtime but still she would be head down peck peck.

 

unfortunately my poor ginger must have had a prolapse appear on Monday and by the time I was back from work the other two had managed to peck her behind so severly she had to be PTS. so now down to 2 hens. I want to get pure breeds next time, but am waiting to move our run etc so I can supervise any introductions. In the end I think I may have to have 2 seperate runs whilst we still have Tinker, she is such a BAD hen

[Olly]

I have only used them once,but i have a friend who's fitted them on all their hens. As far as I am aware, they don't cause damage, although they do restrict some of the hen's natural activity

 

As a solution for overcrowded pens - definitely not. As a cure for a persistent feather-pecker, I think they do hve their place. Against the discomfort/inconvenience to the hen, you have to weigh the pain and potentially serious injury caused to her victims. I do agree that the answer may be fewer hens and more distraction but anyone who's had a major pecking problem and used these will report the instant peace and regrowth of feathers.

[Egluntyne]

I totally agree that they shouldn't be fitted in order that an owner may cram more hens into a confined space. I am all for their use in the case of a persistent bully, as I feel that the wellbeing of the entire flock overrides the 'human rights' of an individual hen.

 

In a more pragmatic age, these hens would have been culled. I have one who is on a final warning at the moment.

[Laura & CTB]

One of my original girls was persistant offender and in the end she had a bumpa bit fitted for a couple of months (until it fell off). By that time she had forgotton about pulling feathers out.

If fitted correctly I think they have their place but as a last resort only after other methods have been tried.

[Lorimer73]

I have had problems with feather pecking at one time or another amongst my small flock of 5 Hybrid chickens. I have found that even if I let them free range all day in half the garden on a wood chip area in a space of approx 4 x 7m away from plants and grass, they still feather peck, it usually happens towards the end of the day. I have used purple spray, Stockholm tar, Ukadex and bumber bits but the determined chicken will still feather peck even with this on and when the bit falls off they just do it again.

 

I have now built a WIR with different levels and lots of different things for them to stand on and peck at, with a soil section and a hemcore section with meal worms and a handful of corn raked in each day for them to discover and feathers are starting to grow back very quickly. They also seem much calmer in the WIR, I have decided to keep them in there and not let them free range at anytime to try keep to a routine for the moment to see if this helps with the problem.

 

However there is one chicken who still tries to pull feathers out, currently testing Vaseline to see if that deters her, at the moment she does it every evening at about 6pm! I distract her with some meal worms and that does help. Also I have noticed that it is the chickens who are 2 and under that feather peck or have missing feathers, I have 2 chickens one of whom who used to do this but they are now 3 years old, they look great and don't feather peck or have feathers missing and they are kept with the younger chickens.