jocurtisuk Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 Hi New cube and four shiny chickens arrived beautifully today - however, one of the black chickens is pecking one of the ginger ones and she now has a bloody raw patch on her back about the size of a thumb nail... what do i do? hope for the best and see if it stops by the morning or remover her immediately? was not expecting a visit to the vet so soon!! Also, when you say put the chickens to bed - any tips on getting them up the ladder for their first night??? Do you think they will be sleepy at 8pm ?! Many thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennydavies Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 Have you got any wound healing spray for the injured chicken ? also some anti-peck spray would be handy too to discourage the attacks. If you are there when she gets pecked try a water-pistol or the hosepipe aimed at the attacker, that should put them off from doing it. You may need to put them to bed for the first couple of nights or try putting a torch in the cube as the light attracts them to go to bed. They have to establish a pecking order but you sometimes have to intervene if things get too naughty. They may not be ready for bed until 10ish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treekeeper Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 Definitely get some gentian (purple) spray as they are attracted to blood and will keep on pecking. They do have to establish a pecking order and it sometimes looks incredibly violent, persevere, intervene if required and a water pistol or spray from a hose will help it does settle down honest. As for going to bed when I swapped from an eglu to a cube I had to help them up the ladder a few times before they got the hang of it, and they usually start putting themselves to bed as it draws dark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hilda-and-evadne Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 she now has a bloody raw patch on her back about the size of a thumb nail... what do i do? hope for the best and see if it stops by the morning or remover her immediately? You need to do something immediately to neutralise that red colour. I have used green food colouring in the past, before the gentian violet spray arrived. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taz1967 Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 Hi How did you get on last night. Ive only just seen this post, but Our first night we had to manually pick them up and walk them up each stop of the ladder to show what to do, but ever since then thay have done it themselves. First night they went to be at 10pm, then its been about 9.30 to 9.45 each night since. We have had the pecking order change hands quite a bit since we got our 4 chickens, but it has all but stopped now, mind you we didnt have blood drawn. Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jocurtisuk Posted June 24, 2010 Author Share Posted June 24, 2010 Hi Thanks for all your advice - hen pecking getting better and have water pistol at hand... am getting the wound spray stuff in the morning.. amazed that the girls all took themselves to bed without my help - bless them and had 4 eggs over the course of the day.. its quite easy really!! many thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennydavies Posted June 24, 2010 Share Posted June 24, 2010 Everybody on the forum understands how difficult it is to take a back seat while our girls sort themselves out. Nine times out of ten it takes a couple of days and then settles down to peace, quiet and chicken heaven.....but just now and again blood is drawn or persistent, unmerciful bullying raises it's ugly head and we all feel that we have to intervene. We went through the same scenario with one of our girls bullying and rehoming was the only solution after weeks of trying all the different cures. I am so grateful for this forum and the members who are more than happy to share their wealth of experience and knowledge - a big thank you to you all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
