Guest Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 we have plastic troughs and all of the girls keep pecking the outside of them. I don't know why they do this, is it boredom? They even do it on the inside edge, they'll eat a bit, have a peck at the side of the trough and then carry on or sometimes they'll just stand at the side, pecking the outside edge. There's no food on the outside surface but it does look like their little tongues are flicking in and out, but there's nothing they could be licking off there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol U Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 Mine peck the outside of the greenhouse and the outside of the eglu to get drops of condensation, even though they have fresh water available. Could yours be doing something like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 Mine peck the outside of the greenhouse and the outside of the eglu to get drops of condensation, even though they have fresh water available. Could yours be doing something like that? i don't think so because they do it all day long, there would only be condensation on it first thing in the morning, plus their water is right next to the feeder. thanks for the reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helly Welly Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 Are your feeders red/orange? Last winter we left our red sledge outside and they pecked it constantly, they seem to have a thing for red. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 Are your feeders red/orange? Last winter we left our red sledge outside and they pecked it constantly, they seem to have a thing for red. no, sort of a racing green colour, hang on i'll try and find a picture..... here we are that large coop cup has the water in i just can't fathom they keep pecking the outside of the feeder, would this be how they got their food in the battery cage? or do other people's chooks peck the outsides of their feeders for no apparent reason? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KateP Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 My two peck the outside of their feeders too - especially the small tub that holds their grit. I've often wondered why they do it but then then do act quite oddly sometimes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallina Posted November 28, 2007 Share Posted November 28, 2007 My hens do it too. I don't like to think my girls are that stupid, as there is certainly nothing except hard plastic there, so I have come up with the theory that their beaks are designed to peck, peck, peck quite independently of their brains. After all, their natural way of finding food is trial and error: keep pecking the dirt all their waking hours until they find a seed, grub, or whatever. "Ooops, word censored!"ody has told them that the outside of the grub will always be error, and they are attracted by the colour and also probably like the noise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted November 28, 2007 Share Posted November 28, 2007 ah, now that's an interesting theory Gallina - makes sense to me. On Sunday I cleaned out both Eglus, and while the lid was off and the droppings tray out, Sadie kept pecking at the plastic floor of the Eglu. There was nothing there apart from a few stray bits of hemcore, as far as I could see - but she was tapping away in there for ages. The noise was really loud and I would have thought it would have put her off, but not at all. As you say, maybe they just peck all the time in the hope of finding a random bug! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 28, 2007 Share Posted November 28, 2007 thank you at least I know my girls aren't the only ones doing it so it puts my mind at rest that there's nothing wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted November 28, 2007 Share Posted November 28, 2007 we have plastic troughs and all of the girls keep pecking the outside of them. I don't know why they do this, is it boredom? they peck everything. Its like babies (not that I have a lot of experience of babies, but I've dredged this from the dim recesses of what passes for my brain). they don't peck everything, but they do stick everything into their mouths, Its something to do with the concentration of nerve endings per square whatsit. there's a homunculus thingy you can find in books, a sort of pictorial map of the spread of sensory bit of a brain, and much much more of the brain is taken up with the mouth than aywhere else - even your finger ends or other very sensitive bits of your body . So maybe a hens brain is the same. If there was a homunculus of a hens brain it would be very small anyway, 'co they ain't got much! But I reckon a lot would be associated with their beaks/mouths 'cos thats what they seem to explore things with. Or maybe I'm talking a load of rubbish as usual. I'm just off to peck at my feeder - her indoors has called me for tea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 28, 2007 Share Posted November 28, 2007 hmmmmm, makes sense. I have a 1 year old niece and if we let her, she'd put one of our chickens in her mouth, but they'd probably peck her first! she likes licking windows at the moment, the simple pleasures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menagerie Posted November 28, 2007 Share Posted November 28, 2007 Ours stand by the fence panels and peck them constantly for hours on end... might be eating tiny bits of wood? They seem to like it but the noise gets rather grating after a while.... they don't do it out of boredom because they can only get at the fence when they're free ranging so have loads of other things available to peck and explore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 28, 2007 Share Posted November 28, 2007 Ours stand by the fence panels and peck them constantly for hours on end... might be eating tiny bits of wood? They seem to like it but the noise gets rather grating after a while.... they don't do it out of boredom because they can only get at the fence when they're free ranging so have loads of other things available to peck and explore. wonder if there's little insects on the wood? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xChicken04x Posted November 28, 2007 Share Posted November 28, 2007 Maybe its the noise it makes when they peck it? Like humans sometimes tap there fingers on a table for no reason (well I do) or because they like the rythm? xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 28, 2007 Share Posted November 28, 2007 Maybe its the noise it makes when they peck it? Like humans sometimes tap there fingers on a table for no reason (well I do) or because they like the rythm? xx now, if we could teach them a rhythm, we'd have a christmas no. 1 on our hands! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
