I have hens!! Can anyone recommend a good book?

[CarolineW]

Unless I could get my husband to fence of a small section of the aviary so that they can still see each other, but not reach each other? Would that mean she could be rejoin the others without being attacked once she's recovered? She isn't fundamentally ill, as far as I can see, just very stressed from the journey, and not being given the chance to recover.

Although it's a bit crowded at night in the coop at the moment, they have oodles of space in the aviary, so it shouldn't be a problem to close a bit off. What do you think?

[Suechooks]

Unless I could get my husband to fence of a small section of the aviary so that they can still see each other, but not reach each other? Would that mean she could be rejoin the others without being attacked once she's recovered? She isn't fundamentally ill, as far as I can see, just very stressed from the journey, and not being given the chance to recover.

Although it's a bit crowded at night in the coop at the moment, they have oodles of space in the aviary, so it shouldn't be a problem to close a bit off. What do you think?

You could try just to give her a chance. I had one like that who just keeled over after a week and another who lasted 5 weeks. They weren't being battered by the others so much as just too stressed and frail to cope. She definitely !needs getting away from the others and fed and watered. If it was me I'd give her a chance but then I'm just an old softy!

[MaureenHall]

Unless I could get my husband to fence of a small section of the aviary so that they can still see each other, but not reach each other? Would that mean she could be rejoin the others without being attacked once she's recovered? She isn't fundamentally ill, as far as I can see, just very stressed from the journey, and not being given the chance to recover.

Although it's a bit crowded at night in the coop at the moment, they have oodles of space in the aviary, so it shouldn't be a problem to close a bit off. What do you think?

Please give her a chance if you can, you never know, she might just be the one who grows into the most beautiful and gentle of all the girls. If there's another couple who are a bit timid or shy, I'd suggest putting her with them so she's still got some company. If that's not possible, then definitely isolate and treat her till she's stronger.

I know I'm a great big softie really

[frias]

Please don't throw the baby out with the bath water! Have you tried treating her injuries with gentian violet and spraying her with anti peck spray? The others will be very attracted to the blood. If you could fence her off with her own food and water but so she can still see the others it would be easier to integrate her later.
Is the rescue centre near to you? They might have some ill or injured hens that weren't rehomed and would be willing to have yours back until healed.

[CarolineW]

I did post to update you a few weeks ago, but I guess my posting failed. Unfortunately, although we did give her a chance, she didn't make it through the next day They did the same thing to another hen 2 weeks later

It's starting to look ominously as thought they're beginning to hound yet another hen now. I don't know what to do. They've got loads of space now, so it isn't a space issue (the space was a bit tight in the coop for the first few days).

Anyone got any advice?

[CoraxAurata]

I did post to update you a few weeks ago, but I guess my posting failed. Unfortunately, although we did give her a chance, she didn't make it through the next day They did the same thing to another hen 2 weeks later

It's starting to look ominously as thought they're beginning to hound yet another hen now. I don't know what to do. They've got loads of space now, so it isn't a space issue (the space was a bit tight in the coop for the first few days).

Anyone got any advice?

Hi, please don't think I have all the answers (or that I think I do) because I've only had this with the youngest and weakest of a recent hatch(I'm just lucky to have an experienced poultry freind), but having had several discussions with my poultry mentor some or all of the following may help...

1 if she isn't being allowed to eat put her somewhere quiet for a little while each day to have a private dining a cardboard box with mesh or a thin cloth over the top should do (light needs to get in).

2 clean off any blood - it excites the others and encourages the victimisation

3 spray her with something as a deterent, i gather you can get a proper spray but I haven't seen any up here, after some consideration (vaseline, aftershave and even mustard were suggested - personally wasn't sure the first would work and the others seemed a little harsh on the victim to me) I used Avon so Soft (kept for midge protection values) it smells quite strongly, sticks quite well and tastes foul!

4 provide toys in your coop - edible or otherwise straw (still in a bale for climbing on or loose for scratching in) those corrupted cd-rs hung on a string - the like the shiny surface, corn on the cob (though this tends to last not very long and may possibly cause squabbles)

They seem to find the goo from pecking feathers addictive so breaking the habit is essential. its also wise to check the food you are feeding them has the right nutritional balance there are some theories that feather pecking comes from imbalances, if they are refeathering after being ex-battery they may need extra protein - but go carefully too much protein for long isn't good either,

You may find that one particular hen is the senior agressor with one or two side kicks - it may be worth seperating them for a time to break the habit that way (the fenced off bit of aviary should be ok)...

I hope this helps...

How many have you got now? Some will have moved on to their forever homes? Well done for the rescue by the way!

[Birdie Wife]

Sorry to hear you're still having troubles Caroline. Can you give the hens any more space? They might be less frustrated and it would give the pecked hen more of a chane to escape. Another thing you can try is to remove one of the bullies rather than the pecked hen - you said you didn't have any room to remove them but if you can borrow a dog cage and put it in the garage, it would be better than nothing. By removing the bully, they lose their place in the pecking order and sometimes it can help. If you have a persistant bully, maybe it's better to get rid of her than keeping buying new hens to be victims of bullying? Or get a breed than can better stand up for itself, like a Black Rock.

Hope some of this helps...

[CarolineW]

How many have you got now? Some will have moved on to their forever homes? Well done for the rescue by the way!

We have 17 left now, which is a much more manageable number!! They are split into 2 different areas. 10 in a coop designed for 13 with a moveable run, who are now largely behaving themselves. And 7 in a coop which can take 10 comfortably and a huge aviary with woodchip floor and lots of different levels to jump onto. They are the ones giving me a problem.

Thanks so much for all your advice! I'm going to see how much of it I can implement today. They already have lots of things to hop on and climb around, plus lots of scratching area which I toss treats into (corn, mealworms, etc) for them to scratch around and find. But I'll up the amount I'm doing.

I like Birdie wife's idea of separating out the bully for a bit (hello Birdie wife - long time since we last 'spoke' ) I'm not quite sure who the ringleader is, though. Does anyone have advice on how to spot her? When I'm there, the hen which is being picked on is left alone. It's only when I'm not there that it happens. Is it likely to be the first one who comes for food, perhaps??

They're on good quality layers pellets at the moment, but I'll see what else I can find for them to up the protein content for a while. I give them a bit of mash most days - scattered so they can scratch around for it - of vegetable peelings chopped up. Perhaps if I mix that with milk or yogurt, that would solve the protein problem? Plus the mealworms, of course. Any other ideas?

I've been cleaning off blood, but will also look around for something to spray her with, as you suggest. Perhaps the fly repellant sun cream that I have ...

[CoraxAurata]

We have 17 left now, which is a much more manageable number!! They are split into 2 different areas. 10 in a coop designed for 13 with a moveable run, who are now largely behaving themselves. And 7 in a coop which can take 10 comfortably and a huge aviary with woodchip floor and lots of different levels to jump onto. They are the ones giving me a problem.

Thanks so much for all your advice! I'm going to see how much of it I can implement today. They already have lots of things to hop on and climb around, plus lots of scratching area which I toss treats into (corn, mealworms, etc) for them to scratch around and find. But I'll up the amount I'm doing.

I like Birdie wife's idea of separating out the bully for a bit (hello Birdie wife - long time since we last 'spoke' ) I'm not quite sure who the ringleader is, though. Does anyone have advice on how to spot her? When I'm there, the hen which is being picked on is left alone. It's only when I'm not there that it happens. Is it likely to be the first one who comes for food, perhaps??

They're on good quality layers pellets at the moment, but I'll see what else I can find for them to up the protein content for a while. I give them a bit of mash most days - scattered so they can scratch around for it - of vegetable peelings chopped up. Perhaps if I mix that with milk or yogurt, that would solve the protein problem? Plus the mealworms, of course. Any other ideas?

I've been cleaning off blood, but will also look around for something to spray her with, as you suggest. Perhaps the fly repellant sun cream that I have ...

The ring leader will be the one who doesn't get pecked when they are all after the food - or if someone makes the mistake of pecking her they'll generally hop out of range sharpish...

I know somepeople feed probiotic yoghurt to poorly birds for various things but barring that as I can see no way they would by accident or design have milk products in a 'wild' diet I tend to avoid feeding milk products - this is a personal preference, so I'm not saying you should or shouldn't just that I have no experience of how well it works for chooks....

Fly repelant suncream depends what the active ingredient is It might taste like something they like - and be bad for them, but again it could be just the thing.....

[Suechooks]

We have 17 left now, which is a much more manageable number!! They are split into 2 different areas. 10 in a coop designed for 13 with a moveable run, who are now largely behaving themselves. And 7 in a coop which can take 10 comfortably and a huge aviary with woodchip floor and lots of different levels to jump onto. They are the ones giving me a problem.

Thanks so much for all your advice! I'm going to see how much of it I can implement today. They already have lots of things to hop on and climb around, plus lots of scratching area which I toss treats into (corn, mealworms, etc) for them to scratch around and find. But I'll up the amount I'm doing.

I like Birdie wife's idea of separating out the bully for a bit (hello Birdie wife - long time since we last 'spoke' ) I'm not quite sure who the ringleader is, though. Does anyone have advice on how to spot her? When I'm there, the hen which is being picked on is left alone. It's only when I'm not there that it happens. Is it likely to be the first one who comes for food, perhaps??

They're on good quality layers pellets at the moment, but I'll see what else I can find for them to up the protein content for a while. I give them a bit of mash most days - scattered so they can scratch around for it - of vegetable peelings chopped up. Perhaps if I mix that with milk or yogurt, that would solve the protein problem? Plus the mealworms, of course. Any other ideas?

I've been cleaning off blood, but will also look around for something to spray her with, as you suggest. Perhaps the fly repellant sun cream that I have ...

Caroline - there is a spray called UKADEX which is supposed to smell vile and is an anti-peck spray. If you Google it you'll find a supplier who does mail order. I haven't tried it but have seen a couple of threads mentioning it.

[CarolineW]

Caroline - there is a spray called UKADEX which is supposed to smell vile and is an anti-peck spray. If you Google it you'll find a supplier who does mail order. I haven't tried it but have seen a couple of threads mentioning it.

Thanks, Suechooks. I'll get onto that now.

[CoraxAurata]

Thanks, Suechooks. I'll get onto that now.

Very good plan - if you don't have to improvise its often best not to <g>

[CoraxAurata]

Hey, Hows it going with your hens? are they still picking on one?

[Henschool]

Hi there,

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[CarolineW]

Hey, Hows it going with your hens? are they still picking on one?

One died, but the other we're hopeful for. We couldn't get hold of the Ukadex fast enough - it would have taken at least a week to come - and it wasn't available locally. However, searching for it led me to a forum which recommended a poultry saddle or duct tape over the wounded part, and aftershave over the none wounded part. We tried that, and it seems to be working so far. Fingers crossed!

Close and detailed inspection of the ones being bullied showed up that one had sour crop. So we inspected all the others to see if any of the others had it, and found another one with it too. We've treated them, but as it's a fungal infection, I'm assuming that it could easily spread to the others?

At the moment we have them all on pro-biotic powder in their water. Is there anything else we should do to help the girls to avoid it?