Whether you have a feather-plucking flock, an egg-eating hen, or a bullying chicken, you've discovered a cannibalism issue within your flock. After some research and possibly a few failed attempts to stop your chickens, you may have found Pinless Peepers and feel like that's your only option to stop your chickens. In this article, I will go over how to apply Pinless Peepers on a Standard-sized chicken.
Things Needed:
Before starting, ensure that you are prepared with everything you'll need. Here's a list of the required things you'll need:
Once you have everything needed, it is time to prep everything. Begin with putting the Pinless Peepers you’ll be using in a bowl of warm water. That is to make the Pinless Peepers more pliable when you apply them.
Next, wrap up your chicken with a blanket or towel. You want to warp your chicken up tightly, but not so tight that it’ll injure your chicken. The wrapping is to keep your chicken calm and restricted while you apply the Pinless Peepers.
A hen wrapped up in a blanket.
Applying the Pinless Peeper:
With your chicken wrapped up and your Pinless Peeper ready to go, it is now time to apply it to your chicken. Start with removing the Pinless Peeper from the water and drying it off to avoid getting water in your chicken’s nose. Take the pliers, and placing their points between the nostril pieces and the over-the-beak piece, carefully widen the opening of the Pinless Peeper.
This is where you place the plier's points in the Pinless Peeper.
Holding your chicken’s head securely, carefully slide the nostril pieces of the Pinless Peeper into the chicken’s nostrils. Once in the nostrils, slowly close the pliers, and the Pinless Peeper should be on. (Warning: the chicken might try freeing itself from your hand, thus causing you to apply the Pinless Peepers wrong. If their head is moving or the chicken is struggling, don’t apply the Pinless Peeper until it is.) Double-check that you didn’t accidentally place the Pinless Peeper on their nostril!
A hen after a Pinless Peeper was applied.
When you’ve let go of the chicken, it may squawk, shake its head around, or even sneeze because of the Pinless Peeper. They might also try scratching it off with their foot. This is all normal behavior, so don’t be alarmed.
Wearing the Pinless Peepers:
It is highly recommended that chickens only wear the Pinless Peepers for two weeks. Some say the chicken can wear them longer, but because the Pinless Peepers can cause nostril blockage and other issues, they shouldn’t wear them longer than the recommended time. If they need to wear them longer, give them a week-long break to clear up any nostril blockage or sore spots they may have developed.
While your flock is wearing Pinless Peepers, I recommend providing them with bigger food and water dishes. They can’t see as well, and they might be unable to eat or drink out of their regular feeders or waterers without touching their Pinless Peepers. A heavy-bottom bowl or base works well.
This base worked well as a waterer while my flock wore Pinless Peepers.
Removing the Pinless Peepers:
When the time comes to remove the Pinless Peeper from your chicken, wrap your chicken up as you did before. Holding your chicken’s head securely, take the pliers and place their points in the same place as you did before. Slowly open the pliers until the nostril pieces are out of both nostrils.
The chicken’s nostril may have developed blockage while wearing the Pinless Peeper. You can remove this by taking a warm, moist cotton swab and holding it onto the blockage, loosening it. Gently, you can use the cotton swap to push the blockage out. The chicken also may have developed a sore spot where the Pinless Peeper rubbed while the chicken wore it. That often heals up within a few days to a couple of weeks, depending on how bad the sore spot is.
A hen who had a severe blockage from a Pinless Peeper.
Extra Information:
Pinless Peepers are designed to fit most Standard-sized chickens. I had smaller Standard-sized chickens that the Pinless Peepers were too big for and fell out. I reapplied them by putting them in at a slight angle, with the top closer to the chicken's center and the bottom further out. That worked well for all my smaller Standard-sized chickens except for one, who was very small.
On my first time using Pinless Peepers, I did a practice run by applying them to a toy stuffed chicken. That familiarized me with everything, so I was sure what I was doing before applying them to a real chicken.
When doing whole flocks or large amounts of chickens, I discovered that wrapping each one individually was inconvenient and time-consuming. Instead of a blanket or a towel, I use a cut-off sweatpants pantleg. It works just as well as a blanket or towel, and it is easier to wrap the chicken right every time.
A chicken in a cut-off sweatpants pantleg. This pantleg had a cuff on the end, which worked perfectly to put her head through.
When I've done individual chickens instead of whole flocks, I've had an issue with other chickens around the ones who wore the Pinless Peeper. One common issue is others fighting with or attacking the chicken who wore the Pinless Peeper. That, however, was often settled within the first day or two with no significant problems. Another common issue was with other chickens trying to "help" the chicken with the Pinless Peeper by attempting to pull it off their face. Again, no significant problems were caused by that, except for the occasional distress of the Pinless Peeper being messed with.
I purchased both the Pinless Peepers and the pliers I use here: https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/pinless_peepers.html.
I hope this article will help anybody who wants to know how to apply Pinless Peepers. Thanks for reading.
~Lacy Duckwing
Things Needed:
Before starting, ensure that you are prepared with everything you'll need. Here's a list of the required things you'll need:
- Pinless Peepers
- SNAP Ring Pliers with a 45° head
- A blanket or towel
- Warm water
Once you have everything needed, it is time to prep everything. Begin with putting the Pinless Peepers you’ll be using in a bowl of warm water. That is to make the Pinless Peepers more pliable when you apply them.
Next, wrap up your chicken with a blanket or towel. You want to warp your chicken up tightly, but not so tight that it’ll injure your chicken. The wrapping is to keep your chicken calm and restricted while you apply the Pinless Peepers.
A hen wrapped up in a blanket.
Applying the Pinless Peeper:
With your chicken wrapped up and your Pinless Peeper ready to go, it is now time to apply it to your chicken. Start with removing the Pinless Peeper from the water and drying it off to avoid getting water in your chicken’s nose. Take the pliers, and placing their points between the nostril pieces and the over-the-beak piece, carefully widen the opening of the Pinless Peeper.
This is where you place the plier's points in the Pinless Peeper.
Holding your chicken’s head securely, carefully slide the nostril pieces of the Pinless Peeper into the chicken’s nostrils. Once in the nostrils, slowly close the pliers, and the Pinless Peeper should be on. (Warning: the chicken might try freeing itself from your hand, thus causing you to apply the Pinless Peepers wrong. If their head is moving or the chicken is struggling, don’t apply the Pinless Peeper until it is.) Double-check that you didn’t accidentally place the Pinless Peeper on their nostril!
A hen after a Pinless Peeper was applied.
When you’ve let go of the chicken, it may squawk, shake its head around, or even sneeze because of the Pinless Peeper. They might also try scratching it off with their foot. This is all normal behavior, so don’t be alarmed.
Wearing the Pinless Peepers:
It is highly recommended that chickens only wear the Pinless Peepers for two weeks. Some say the chicken can wear them longer, but because the Pinless Peepers can cause nostril blockage and other issues, they shouldn’t wear them longer than the recommended time. If they need to wear them longer, give them a week-long break to clear up any nostril blockage or sore spots they may have developed.
While your flock is wearing Pinless Peepers, I recommend providing them with bigger food and water dishes. They can’t see as well, and they might be unable to eat or drink out of their regular feeders or waterers without touching their Pinless Peepers. A heavy-bottom bowl or base works well.
This base worked well as a waterer while my flock wore Pinless Peepers.
Removing the Pinless Peepers:
When the time comes to remove the Pinless Peeper from your chicken, wrap your chicken up as you did before. Holding your chicken’s head securely, take the pliers and place their points in the same place as you did before. Slowly open the pliers until the nostril pieces are out of both nostrils.
The chicken’s nostril may have developed blockage while wearing the Pinless Peeper. You can remove this by taking a warm, moist cotton swab and holding it onto the blockage, loosening it. Gently, you can use the cotton swap to push the blockage out. The chicken also may have developed a sore spot where the Pinless Peeper rubbed while the chicken wore it. That often heals up within a few days to a couple of weeks, depending on how bad the sore spot is.
A hen who had a severe blockage from a Pinless Peeper.
Extra Information:
Pinless Peepers are designed to fit most Standard-sized chickens. I had smaller Standard-sized chickens that the Pinless Peepers were too big for and fell out. I reapplied them by putting them in at a slight angle, with the top closer to the chicken's center and the bottom further out. That worked well for all my smaller Standard-sized chickens except for one, who was very small.
On my first time using Pinless Peepers, I did a practice run by applying them to a toy stuffed chicken. That familiarized me with everything, so I was sure what I was doing before applying them to a real chicken.
When doing whole flocks or large amounts of chickens, I discovered that wrapping each one individually was inconvenient and time-consuming. Instead of a blanket or a towel, I use a cut-off sweatpants pantleg. It works just as well as a blanket or towel, and it is easier to wrap the chicken right every time.
A chicken in a cut-off sweatpants pantleg. This pantleg had a cuff on the end, which worked perfectly to put her head through.
When I've done individual chickens instead of whole flocks, I've had an issue with other chickens around the ones who wore the Pinless Peeper. One common issue is others fighting with or attacking the chicken who wore the Pinless Peeper. That, however, was often settled within the first day or two with no significant problems. Another common issue was with other chickens trying to "help" the chicken with the Pinless Peeper by attempting to pull it off their face. Again, no significant problems were caused by that, except for the occasional distress of the Pinless Peeper being messed with.
I purchased both the Pinless Peepers and the pliers I use here: https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/pinless_peepers.html.
I hope this article will help anybody who wants to know how to apply Pinless Peepers. Thanks for reading.
~Lacy Duckwing
