Is my pekin bantam male or female?

[mintymummy]

Hi, this is my first post on the forum, just looking for abit of advice. We got three hybrid hens last summer. At first they all seemed to get on well. We purchased the egglu extension run kit and also fenced off a large proportion of the garden for them to use. One of our hens has been pecked on its bottom quite badly by another one. There is no blood, but her skin does look very red and she has bold bottom. We have tried anti pecking spray, bumpa bits but nothing seems to be working. This week I have separated them too. However this isn't practical as a long term solution.I m beginning to wonder if it would be better for my chickens if I was able to rehome them to someone who has more space.any advice would be appreciated .

[mollyripkim]

Have you actually seen the others pecking her? Just a thought in case there are other reasons, as any bare skin will be very red when exposed to the air which of course is a temptation to the others. Sounds like you are doing ok and they have plenty of room. Some people also recommend removing the bully for a while so they go down in the pecking order.

 

Anyway welcome to the forum, didn't want to read and run so hopefully someone with more experience will be along.

[gavclojak]

Oh dear poor you, it is so stressful isn't it.

From what I understand bumpa bits stop the feather pulling but not sure it actually stops the pecking....but having said that people on here seem to have had good results with them. Have you tried disguising the redness with purple spray, it dyes everything but does hide the sore area's

I think the worst tasting/smelling anti peck is ukadex, apparently it's pretty horrific but maybe worth a go, if it's been going on that long it sounds like a habit and it's just trying to break the cycle.

[Dolly]

Sorry to hear about your problems, they certainly can be little madams sometimes can't they! Did you try bumper bits or beak rings, as the bumper bits give better protection around the end of the beak so should stop the other hen being hurt? If she's been pulling feathers out, it's been said that this can be due to protein deficiency, so you could try feeding mealworms or rinsed tuna (only give the sort in water, never brine or oil) as a supplement. To help your girl regrow her feathers, you can get additives for their water such as Lifeguard or Nettex Moulting Solution.

 

Separating the bully for a while can help as she will go down in the pecking order when put back with the others, but you may have the usual scuffles the same as if you were introducing a new hen.

 

It sounds like they have plenty of room but adding peck blocks or bunches of greens occasionally, or perches, dust baths etc gives them something else to do.

 

Hope things get better for you soon, let us know how you get on.

[dipsychick]

hi

I am also a new poster , although have been reading this forum for a few years before finally being allowed chooks last may !

I have a pecking problem at the moment too.

At the end of December we got three new girls , 2 churchmans genoa blues and a white star to add to the pekins. All went very well and all three have been laying happily and not much trouble.

However last week the white star (clever girl ) had a bit of a bare bottom , I kept an eye on it to make sure no one pecked and made it sore , after a while the feathers have come back enough to hide the bare bit quite well and no sores.

Then on Thursday while they where fr I noticed one of the other newbies had a bare bottom and blood too, while I attempted to race in and catch her ( no easy task ) two of the pekins had a few pecks at her and had bloody beaks.

I managed to get her out and into a pet carrier and bought her in for the night until we got to the vets in the morning.

she laid an egg Wednesday, Thursday and Friday which is good as before she only laid one every 9 days or so.

She has a really bad wound that has dried up now and has antiseptic cream and antibiotics in case of infection ( oh the fun of giving drops to a skittish chicken that's not used to being handled yet !) So it will be a few days before she can go back to the others .

meanwhile I am keeping an eye on the other two and have sprayed them in passing ( they are faster than the pekins !) with anti peck spray . This afternoon me and hubby managed to get hold of clever girl and sprayed the small bald patch with violet spray , but of course being white it was really bright and the others went straight in for a closer look.I am worried now we have made it worse than it was as they seemed to be leaving it alone and now we have drawn more attention to it !!

I am not sure if they had just lost some feathers and the bald patch got the attention of the others or if they are pecking the feathers out to start with, they usually go for the back of the neck when putting them in their place !

[Plum]

It's not necessarily an aggressive act, sometimes they get a taste for feathers. If they've broken an egg the egg on the bottom feathers can make them tasty or it can be a dietary deficiency that prompts feather pecking.

I would bathe a sticky bum promptly and give a tonic containing vits and minerals as an early action.

[gavclojak]

It's not necessarily an aggressive act, sometimes they get a taste for feathers.

 

Indeed Plum...when I had a horrible case of bullying (unfortunately if was bullying in my case) I sought advice and was told that the newer quils and feather coming through taste pleasant to other chickens, maybe the protein, but they then think "Mmmm that was nice" and keep going in for another go.

 

When I spend ages in the enclosure with them I often see an opportunistic peck, especially when they all want the same roosting bar.....like there isn't enough room for them....I even saw a kick the other day.. All for top spot on the storage container

[Plum]

A kick, that's a new one. One of mine is very good at shouldering them out of the way, she'd be good in the sales

[gavclojak]

I know right....she was standing next Barbara to and gave her a kind of roundhouse kick.....a few times too, until Barbara though " I'm not having that" and princess layer got a swift peck to the top of the head with the accompanying squawk ... Silly girls...take a chill pill

[dipsychick]

hi all thought id give you an update on the bare bottom saga !

it would seem that the girls decided purple was this seasons colour and paid no attention to clever girls fluorescent rear at all and it is now covered in white and lilac feathers ! phew ! but the other newbie (now called oddball by dh) has been in and out of quarantine in the cat box , we have used anti peck and purple spray both worked for a few days and then she would be back in again. Finely I tried some Stockholm tar , we have been re applying daily as I think some comes off after laying but so far so good , fingers crossed.

So just as we are hoping we have cracked this we find we have a broody madam (named at present as evil Edna) . At the weekend we all commented on how she almost hissed at us when going to the nest box , then the penny dropped so we made a bad job of a broody cage with a metal playpen and a piece of omlet wir underneath and put her in all day Monday and yesterday . I also stuck a small trug in the nestbox hole at night , thanks to this forum for that solution . Today we have been checking since they came out at 7.00 ish and she has so far stayed out of the nest box but I bet she's back in by this afternoon .

 

 

how are you getting on mintymummy ?

[dipsychick]

Good news oddballs rear is still going ok and no hospital time

Even evil Edna , the broody madam is back with the pack , she stayed out of the nest box the last few days so the broody buster worked after two days so hopefully she will back to laying soon .

Did find pecketty in nest box tonight and she was not best pleased on being turfed out so will keep an eye on her too .

 

I hope I have added a picture of our hasty and very dodgy broody buster , but I've not added pics before so fingers crossed