The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Calvadnack on June 05, 2011, 05:33:53 pm
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Has anyone used bumper bits successfully to stop pecking ? One of our hens has become obsessed with pecking one of the other's foot until it bleeds.
It started after a fox attack (half flock killed). While rounding up the other hens who had flown over the electric fence, Ginger chicken was left in the pen and had started to eat one of the dead hens left by the fox (yuck!). Mrs Chicken escaped with only a wound on her foot so I purple sprayed and kept her in the barn in a pen until she recovered and healed for 3-4 days.
I put her back in with the others at night, but on letting them all out Ginger chicken immediately pecked the scab on her foot to make it bleed.
Mrs Chicken was put in a small pen separate from the others but in full sight while she recovered, but as soon as I try to reintroduce her Ginger chicken immediately pecks her foot to make it bleed.
Do you think a bumper bit will work, or is Ginger now a confirmed cannibal ???
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Having tried everything I could to stop one hen pecking, (sprays, beak bits...) I resorted to clipping her beak.
Use human nail clippers, take off only 1/4" if that, from only the top mandible. It prevents the 'tweezer' effect and stopped the problem overnight.
It doesn't stop them eating layers pellets etc but might make them less effective finding food free range. The beak grows back - sometimes once is enough to break the habit, sometimes it needs repeating.
Incidentally, having done both, I think the beak trimming was much less painful and traumatic than the beak bits, which clip into the nostrils - ouch!
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Oh dear, it feels so wrong to beak trim, but I'm at the point of having to consider culling so I suppose it's really the best solution. How soon does the beak grow back?
I'm going to restock shortly, so do you think I should wait until then and beak trim at the same time as introducing a batch of new hens and go for a big bang solution in the hope that it will all just be too much for her little brain?
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Have you tried a wee dab of Stockholm tar? It stops the red showing, helps to heal and probably tastes horrible too. It's a bit messy but might be better than culling.
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As long as you're not taking too much off the beak (you're basically just taking the end of the point off), you're not into the sensitive bit - so not too terrible.
Stockholm tar sounds like a good idea too :-)
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I think I'll start with the Stockholm tar and go from there to the beak trimming. Thanks for the advice, use of bumper bits seems to be rather controversial so I think that will be my last resort (before the final solution!)
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Yeah for Stockholm tar !
We let the injured hen heal, smothered both feet in tar (it smells of hoof oil - lovely) and let her out.
Ginger chicken took one peck and decided against any more attacks. She didn't even like the smell and kept sniffing around but eventually just wandered off.
Many thanks for the useful advice - what do I use the rest for, it's quite a large tub and will probably last a lifetime !