3.6m Omlet Chicken Run for sale, Brand New in Boxes, Milton Keynes (MK19)

[chookingham]

I have 3 hybrids and 3 orps in a nice large run, with 3 new girls separated by some wire in another. I was watching out the window yesterday morning and the 3 hybrids were all pecking furiously at the back of Martha, my black orp's neck. Of the 6 she is middle in the pecking order and was one of the ringleaders pecking at Amy, my gold-laced orp when we first put her back witht he flock after her injury, so I don't think it is a pecking order thing. I had a good look over her yesterday evening and there is no sign of lice, parasites etc. She may be moulting around the neck a litle bit but it is hard to tell as she is a huge scruffy puffball at the moment. Have put some anti peck on her neck and hung up another peck block and chucked a couple of apples in this morning to try to keep them busy, but can anyone have a guess as to what this is about? She now runs around the run trying to hide behind Amy, who only a week ago she was bullying Could it be the other chooks reasserting their authority as we began supervised ranging with the new girls at the weekend? Should also add we lost our top chook Annie a couple of weeks ago so Elsie, the ginger hybrid is now top - much more dicator than diplomat which is a big change from Annie's management style

[Redwing]

If the orp is mouklting then that would make her a target for two reasons, firstly she'll be a little under the weather as most hens are when they moult and others sense the weakness (moulting often leads to a reshuffle of the pecking order too) secondly new feathers are full of bloos when they emerge and that combined with the white flakey cases on the feather makes them more prone to being pecked at

 

Keep an eye on things, if blood is drawn use purple spray to cover it, if the hen gets more injured remove her completely

[chookingham]

Thanks Redwing

 

I couldn't see any new feathers coming through, or any bald spots where others had come out, which is why it seems such strange behaviour. And although she is huge and fluffy at the best of times, her feathers are looking particularly 'loose' at the moment - if she was human I would liken it to 'bedhead'! No blood drawn and the way they were pecking was like they do when they are hoovering up corn, which is why I suspected creepy crawlies initially. Oh well, maybe it is just chooks being chooks!