Surfnirvana Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Any other ideas please! I have 4 hens (Bess, Mary, Ivy & Polly) and up until a few months ago they were all fine. We went away on holiday for a week (we had someone else looking after them & house sitting), and came back and noticed 3 of them had bald bums ! So, by my deductions it was the 4th hen - Bess who was the cuprit. These are the things I have tried to stop her doing it:- 1. Hanging greens and pecker blockers up in their pen (which they have always had). 2. Letting them free range as much as possible, when we get back from work & weekends. 3. Feeding them only Layers Pellets - no corn or treats apart from "bribing" mealworms. 4. Spraying the "baldies" with Anti-pecking spray (worked for a bit, but not any more) 5. Spraying the "baldies" with Violet genetian purple spray (again worked for a while) 6. Put a bumper bit on Bess's beak - She has had it on for 3 weeks. Mary's feathers started to recover but not the other two - which led me to the conclusion that she (Mary) is also a pecker of the other two (Ivy & Polly)! 7. I therefore ordered another bumper bit and will fit that to Mary BUT Bess's beak started to look very flakey and unhealthy, so had to remove it yesterday (the bumper bit not the beak!). Over night she has picked out Mary's newly grown feathers have disappeard! ARghh. In the meantime I am now rubbing sudocrem on the baldies bums as they seemed to be getting rather red. I don't really want to separate Bess or Mary from the other two, so if there is anything else I could try, please let me know. Thanks so much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 For the avoidance of any doubt, I'd fit bits to all of them, that ought to sort it out. I wouldn't worry about the beak being dry or flaky; the bit shouldn't be causing that. Perhaps rub a bit of oil onto the beak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahelliott Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 I had this problem a year or so ago, i couldn't work out the culprit. i think as already suggested, bit all of them and hopefully it should stop. you are doing all the right things though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surfnirvana Posted May 6, 2012 Author Share Posted May 6, 2012 Thanks so much for your replys. I now have 4 bits to fit - hopefully that will work. I'll keep you posted! :0) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shannon Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 Thanks so much for your replys. I now have 4 bits to fit - hopefully that will work. I'll keep you posted! :0) We have been suffering from the same sorts of problems, one chicken has a skinhead and the other looks pretty oven ready, we told we could fix things by introducing new chickens, so went out and bought two more. Now we have five unhappy chickens, so have purchased chicken beak clips and fitted them last night. Our oldest chicken 'Sandwich' was very unhappy about this but this morning, is carrying like she always worn it. Looking forward to everyone growing some feathers and laying eggs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...