Wrenshensffe
Chirping
I’m at a complete loss.
(Back story- spring 21. my first flock came from TSC as chicks. I had 22 hens and 2 large pekin ducks in the same coop and same run prior to this flock and they living in harmony with no issues and we’re generally pretty friendly to humans. They were all killed by a mink in one night over winter so we rebuilt the run with the same dementions 100% predator proofed.
Issue:
My new chicks were shipped to me by a local hatchery here in Michigan in spring of 22– I handled them (not as often as the first) but this flock is INSANELY afraid of humans. They will come to me for food, but won’t let me touch or catch them.
In the fall of 22 I noticed some of my hens started losing some feathers and looking a little rougher than normal near their vents, underneath the vent, and around the base of their tail. I researched and read that they could be molting even though it would be very early for a first molt. I also checked for mites and lice several times over the winter, even with a microscope and still saw no evidence, yet they kept getting worse and worse. I provided scratch in their run everyday, vegetable table scraps (not excessively), eventually they started looking completely bare on their butts with bright red skin. No vent gleet/messy butts. Some hens look so bad that the red bare skin goes all the way up to the tail/preening gland. I researched for months and nothing made sense. I gutted the coop snd treated with elector psp just to see if that made a difference. Nothing.. finally last night I found an old article explaining feather picking and what could have caused them to begin this behavior . Everything I read prior only stated information about a single bully hen or the whole flock on one specific hen. In my case by this time, every single one of my hens is missing at least some or all fluff, and several on their backs now. I have 3 out of 15 that don’t look super rough, but are still missing fluff, some back feathers, and are red. It dawned on me I must have missed the beginning bully hen to begin with, and they all learned the behavior and are now ravaging each other. (No, no roosters). I tried blue food coloring with No Pick to cover the red and that did nothing. I increased protein, nothing. They’ve always been on Kalmbach layer pellets (starter before 18 weeks). Added vitamin supplements. I bought a tractor to let them range in the grass, nothing. Hens with bare preening glands are excessively tugging and rubbing on themselves, causing the glands to swell.
I’m starting to wonder if this issue can even be solved. I can’t seperate all 15 hens to reset pecking order. They haven’t turned canibalistic yet, but I’m afraid we’re not far behind that. Today I watched some hens jump on the backs of others and aggressively bite their neck while the other bird squaks in fear. Our hatched chicks outgrew their brooder at 12 weeks and are in the coop separated from the flock until we move in July where I planned on taking my hens with me. But now I’m starting to wonder to even do to correct this issue before releasing the younger ones in with the big hens. At the rate of damage the original flock are doing to themselves, my babies will be killed or severely injured. I don’t want to cull my old flock and start over.. but I’m losing hope.
**pic for attention (before it started to all go wrong)**
(Back story- spring 21. my first flock came from TSC as chicks. I had 22 hens and 2 large pekin ducks in the same coop and same run prior to this flock and they living in harmony with no issues and we’re generally pretty friendly to humans. They were all killed by a mink in one night over winter so we rebuilt the run with the same dementions 100% predator proofed.
Issue:
My new chicks were shipped to me by a local hatchery here in Michigan in spring of 22– I handled them (not as often as the first) but this flock is INSANELY afraid of humans. They will come to me for food, but won’t let me touch or catch them.
In the fall of 22 I noticed some of my hens started losing some feathers and looking a little rougher than normal near their vents, underneath the vent, and around the base of their tail. I researched and read that they could be molting even though it would be very early for a first molt. I also checked for mites and lice several times over the winter, even with a microscope and still saw no evidence, yet they kept getting worse and worse. I provided scratch in their run everyday, vegetable table scraps (not excessively), eventually they started looking completely bare on their butts with bright red skin. No vent gleet/messy butts. Some hens look so bad that the red bare skin goes all the way up to the tail/preening gland. I researched for months and nothing made sense. I gutted the coop snd treated with elector psp just to see if that made a difference. Nothing.. finally last night I found an old article explaining feather picking and what could have caused them to begin this behavior . Everything I read prior only stated information about a single bully hen or the whole flock on one specific hen. In my case by this time, every single one of my hens is missing at least some or all fluff, and several on their backs now. I have 3 out of 15 that don’t look super rough, but are still missing fluff, some back feathers, and are red. It dawned on me I must have missed the beginning bully hen to begin with, and they all learned the behavior and are now ravaging each other. (No, no roosters). I tried blue food coloring with No Pick to cover the red and that did nothing. I increased protein, nothing. They’ve always been on Kalmbach layer pellets (starter before 18 weeks). Added vitamin supplements. I bought a tractor to let them range in the grass, nothing. Hens with bare preening glands are excessively tugging and rubbing on themselves, causing the glands to swell.
I’m starting to wonder if this issue can even be solved. I can’t seperate all 15 hens to reset pecking order. They haven’t turned canibalistic yet, but I’m afraid we’re not far behind that. Today I watched some hens jump on the backs of others and aggressively bite their neck while the other bird squaks in fear. Our hatched chicks outgrew their brooder at 12 weeks and are in the coop separated from the flock until we move in July where I planned on taking my hens with me. But now I’m starting to wonder to even do to correct this issue before releasing the younger ones in with the big hens. At the rate of damage the original flock are doing to themselves, my babies will be killed or severely injured. I don’t want to cull my old flock and start over.. but I’m losing hope.
**pic for attention (before it started to all go wrong)**