Pecky Chickens

[Jessiebean]

My girls are terrible with pecking, they nearly grew their feathers back but are pecking again, should I spray iodine on them? Smear petroleum jelly on the pecked parts? Hang a cabbage for them to peck?
Yes, I have been Googling but there are so many different answers to pecky chickens...I would love to know if you trusted folk of Ish have had a method work for you?

[bonniethomas06]

Hi Jessie,

I know this is really distressing for you, but in my experience it is something that they will stop doing in time -eventually the rate of feathers growing back will outstrip feathers being pecked...once there is no bare skin the temptation to peck will subside.

In the meantime, just keep them as occupied as you can and they will be too distracted to bother with the pecking - our turkeys did the same thing and we just hung CD's up and used hay bales on their sides in various places within the enclosure so that if the birds walked behind them, they were out of the sight of the others (and therefore the temptation to peck was less).

good luck!

[Jessiebean]

Thanks for that, I thought it might get better but once you start researching in tinterweb things becoming ever more alarming!I will try to keep them occupied...

[Big Al]

I've just got a second chicken and it is about 10 weeks older than the first ( 18 weeks as opposed to 8 weeks old) the seond chicken, a goldline is a bugger for pecking at the younger one and it is distressing my wife ( who vehemntly did not want chickens ) so much so that the first one, the younger is called henrietta and the new goldline is now called casserole.......

I was advised to buy some anti pecking spray which is a foul tasting spray you put on the affected chicken and those that do the pecking get fed up of the foul taste and give up within about a week.

I'm going to give it a go when I can put both birds in the same area so I can keep a general eye on them both but if you think of it chickens are canibals at the best of times....

[TheGoodEarth]

casserole! I like the sense of humour! My daughter has called one of ours Peckster (for obvious reasons)

[Jessiebean]

Jessie are they pecking each other or pulling their own feathers out. I bought some absolutely obnoxious spray off t'internet when mine were bullying one chook. It was called UCAD X - it's French and described as 'bombe replusive' and they're not wrong. It works but goodness it stinks!

They are doing both I think, but I have only ever seen them doing to each other, it is a shame as the feathers were nearly grown back but now mostly gone:(

[Millymollymandy]

Jessie are they pecking each other or pulling their own feathers out. I bought some absolutely obnoxious spray off t'internet when mine were bullying one chook. It was called UCAD X - it's French and described as 'bombe replusive' and they're not wrong. It works but goodness it stinks!

Please could you give more info as I have googled that and nothing comes up at all.

[Millymollymandy]

I got a lot of hits for UCAD which is the university in Dakar plus there were various French sites (they love accronyms) for UCAD which meant all sorts of things, when I added the words bombe and/or repulsive I just got stuff about bombs. The X didn't help any.

Mind you every year there are more and more chemicals banned so that could be why.

[chicken feed]

the spray is called UKADEX

or you could try beak bumbers a very old fashioned method to stop the problem

[Big Al]

we bought a bottle of spray last weekend and when I came to use it on monday, it said it was an irritant so like the dork I am I sniffed the contents of the bottle to see if it had the likes of pepper in it etc. I then read the label and it said it was carcinogenic, irritant to the lungs and to be kept away from the face........ Guess it didn't have pepper in it then !!

Oh and you can't use this type on young or immature birds and the one of mine that is getting pecked was only 6-8 weeks old.......

Yesterday they were out together and the goldline was pecking the younger one so I hit it with a blast of cold water from the hose and she ran off. Today they have been all loverly together with no problems in site.....

Not much help other than to give them a it more time to get to know each other.

[Millymollymandy]

the spray is called UKADEX

or you could try beak bumbers a very old fashioned method to stop the problem

Thank you I thought I'd made it up for a minute

So did I !!!!!

[Big Al]

the spray is called UKADEX

or you could try beak bumbers a very old fashioned method to stop the problem

Thank you I thought I'd made it up for a minute

What's a beak bumper..... an elastic band around their neck ?

[chicken feed]

they go between the beak and attatch to the nostrils eat, drinking and all essential chicken activities can carry on as normal but plucking and damaging each other is impossible, take a look on ebay, they are rather fun to fit (there is a art to it)