The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: BML on August 29, 2013, 04:32:19 pm
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My niece gave me her two laying hens when she moved to a house without the space to keep them. She mentioned that one hen used to peck the other and gave me a spray that was supposed to inhibit this behaviour. For the first couple of days they seemed all right and then the pecking hen increased its pecking so that the other hen had bald patches all over its body.
I then installed a wire netting barrier between the two with water and food in each plus laying space. The hen that had been sujecte3d to the pecking then became absolutely bereft pacing up and down its side of the wire fence clucking and jumping up and down obviously distressed at being parted from the other hen. I don’t know what else I could have done, perhaps someone here does.
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Its just the pecking order at work i'm afraid, one giver and one taker is never the best situation.
Even in a large space i've seen one bird constantly follow another trying to peck it.
The best option is to separate them or add more birds and spread the load.
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Speak to me nicely and PM me your address, so that I can send you a couple of plastic anti peck spectacles to put on your chickens. They don't hurt them, they do work and no this isn't a wind up. :chook:
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One hen likes the taste of blood and the extra protein BML. You need a drastic solution so try the specs or separate. The hen is only upset because her food supply has gone.