Sooo much pooping

[Ladybird]

Hello,

I'm a bit late to this discussion, but wondered what the outcome was MissyJo?

 

That's the most extreme case of chicken cannibalism I've heard of and it must have been very distressing for you, but I just wanted to add my bit here to say that this can happen in any flock and culling may not necessarily be the only way to resolve it.

Having had ex-batts regularly from the BHWT for 4 years, we've never really had problems with flock integration until this year. Three newbies joined 2 older ones at the beginning of Feb and for the first week or so, the integration seemed to go well. Then the pecking started. Same thing as MissyJo described - pecking around the tails and vents (unfeathered) of 2 of the newbies, which punctured the skin and caused bleeding.

This is where your problems start as chickens are very attracted to the colour red. The colour just encourages them to peck more and more and this is where it can result in cannibalism. But keep in mind, this is a natural reaction - they're not intentionally being vicious or consciously trying to kill the other hen.

Injured birds need to be separated and their wounds treated - gentian violet spray is an antiseptic and a colourant, so disguises the red. They may need to be kept separate for a day or two until the wound has dried and can be camouflaged by the purple spray - more is more in this case.

We then, in turn, segregated the older two from the rest of the girls to determine who was the main culprit - luckily for us was just the one bird. We fitted her with a bumpa bit, which stops the beak tip closing, preventing pecking having any effect on the others. You need to remove and replace the bumpa bit every 2 weeks, to prevent their beak growing around it. Remove it, then put the pecking chicken back in with the flock and see what happens. If the pecking restarts, fit another bumpa bit and try again in another 2 weeks. What you're basically doing here is breaking a habit.

 

Pecking usually starts through boredom or overcrowding. Ours have loads of free ranging time most days, but they need to have lots to do, as well as just eating from feeders. Ours have access to a log pile where they dig for grubs and beetles, leafy shrubs where they can spend hours jumping up to pull off leaves - an alternative to this can be a cabbage or other leafy greens hung from a tree, or buy one of the many hanging snack feeders available at pet supply retailers. Make sure they have dust bathing areas - even a washing up bowl filled with soil will do if you don't have any open areas for them.

Pecking behaviour (that is not about dominance, which is usually aimed at the head or neck) is not innate in chickens, it's a learned behaviour in response to the stress of a situation or environment, so if you can reduce the stress/improve the environment and break the habit they've developed, then that should result in happy chickens. Our little flock, I'm relieved to report, is now settled and peck-free. The older bird is definitely in charge, but the two injured ones are fully recovered, feathered up (albeit with pink-tipped tail feathers) and laying well.