Eglu cube or go up with 2m run

[Millie-Annie]

I posted on here a while ago about fitting bumpa bits to my ex-batts. I ordered some from Omlet and fitted them and one of the ex-batts stopped eating. Cotswold Chickens very kindly sent me some smaller ones which I fitted on to her and she was fine with that eating and drinking.

 

All the feathers grew back, and finally my Orpington looks beautiful again. But her feathers are lovely and soft and fluffy so the ex-batts can pull them out even with the bumpa bits on. So they are starting to strip her bare again. It hurts her when they pull them out and they make her squawk. I have noticed one of the ex-batts bottom beaks has grown really long, I presume because she has the bigger bumpa bit, so can I trim this myself?

 

But what do I do now about the feather pecking? I have separated them for now, but I don't want to keep them in such a small space, plus I don't want two lots of feeding to do, two lots of cleaning out, two lots of poop scooping every day and they feather peck each other anyway, one now has a bald breast

 

I know this sounds awful but I am beginning to think culling is the only way forwards. It will break my heart but this habit is not going to stop

 

Any thoughts please

[Beantree]

Bumpa Bits should protrude at least 3mm past the end of the beak. This means the hens cannot peck feathers but they also can only eat from a trough, not off the floor Millie-Annie.

 

The reason your ex-batts have a lower beak longer than the top is because they were 'beak cut' as chicks to prevent cannibalism from the stress of the appalling conditions they are reared in. You cannot trim the bottom beak as that's the guide for their tongue. Their beaks have a lot of nerves in them so any work on any chickens beak must be done with extreme care. The 3mm is measured from the end of the bottom beak in your case.

 

Orpingtons are very placid generally and won't defend themselves. They really shouldn't be in with ex-batts which can, because of their background, be really nasty. But it sounds as though your bits are too short now. They will be able to eat and drink with longer ones, they just have to get used to them or, as you said, face culling.

 

Repeated feather pulling results in killing the feather root, so they may never grow back unfortunately.

[Millie-Annie]

Her beak wasn't like this to start with, it seems to have grown since the bumpa bit has been on.

 

My Orpington's feathers have grown back beautifully. She looks gorgeous again, but they have now started pulling them out on her back. This is not a bullying problem, its a feather pecking habit

[Beantree]

Feather pecking often (but not always) stems from stress in their environment. Have they enough space?

[Millie-Annie]

Yes they have the whole top third of our garden. They have about 8m x 5m of free ranging. They have perches, trees, cabbages. They arrived with the habit and it has never gone away. Originally there were 4 of them, but I rehomed 2 quite early on, thinking 2 would be manageable and for a while with the bumpa bits it has been.

 

At one point all of them, apart from my Brahma, who they have never touched, were bald. They all look lovely now, but those soft downy feathers around the back end are so easy to pull out even with the bumpa bits. I am worried about her beak though it is definitely far longer than it was.

[Beantree]

Clearly space is not an issue and as you have said it is a habit they have bought with them.

 

I think it will need a vet consultation to trim the bottom beak. It doesn't noticeably grow on any of ours, but we have trimmed the top beak on rare occasions, when the overhang of the lower was more than a few millimetres. This was due to a period of inactivity during illness. Normally the beak wears down in use.

 

If you can't get the Bumpa bits to work and separation isn't an option you are left with the only two; rehome or despatch.

 

Having read a few specialist books recently it appears 'culling' refers simply to removal from a breeding programme, something I didn't previously realise. You may then sell, separate or despatch afterwards.