Help! Chickens Pecking Each Other, Drawing Blood and Infections!!!!

[Windy Wings]

Hi! I've got 13 chickens, 5 black stars, 5 red stars, 3 Americanas, all hens. They have a pretty decent-sized coop, along with flock blocks. We let them outside to free-range a few days a week. But ever since they started growing their new feathers when they were young, I've had pecking problems with them. Now they've been laying for a few months, and it's only gotten worse. A couple months ago, I had a red star who got pecked very badly on the vent. It got an infection with white ooze coming out of its vent. I separated it till it healed, spraying no-pick and anticeptic spray. It healed pretty good, and we re-introduced it to the flock. Fast-forward a couple months later, it's got the infection again, (it's been getting pecked too, despite my efforts to spray no-pick) along with my 3 americanas, all who have bare backs at the moment, and my red stars who are starting to lose feathers on their backs from pecking. Even my black stars (I think there are 2 that are the bullys, I've had problems with them pecking their eggs) have been losing some feathers. I've also noticed that they like to eat the fluffy feathers on their underside. It seems a little better when they are outside the coop free ranging, as they have space to spread out. But whenever they get close they start pecking again. I'm really not sure what to do at this point, as despite my best efforts, they keep on pecking each other, and the problems are only going to get worse...

 

[dawg53]

You need to go to Ebay and order Pinless Peepers for your birds. Pinless peepers work. You'll need the pliers as well.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1464141403...C0/mXxbTgXYje2XR9Z8vT5EkbQ==|tkp:BFBMnrSq0cVm

 

[Windy Wings]

Thank you so much!

 

[nuthatched]

How big is their area and what are you feeding ? Pecking is often a symptom of other issues.

 

[BDutch]

Nuthached is right. Pinless peepers are a poor cure. What causes this behaviour is probably bc something is wrong with the food you give them and/or space requirements in combination with the characters of the different chicken breeds.

The fact that things are better when they are free ranging indicates that space is an important factor.

If you let them free range every day /double the run space, build a bigger coop or add a second coop the problems might go away. It won’t be easy to change bad habits around. Maybe you need to seperate the 2 bullies too. Temporary or permanently.

Maybe you need to give feed higher in protein too. Giving chick feed (20% protein) for a while, with grit and oyster shell on the side might help too.

 

[dawg53]

Once birds start picking and pecking each other, it becomes a learned norm and will continue to do it.
Increasing protein, increasing space, free ranging...it doesnt matter.
Peepers are the way to go, otherwise get rid of the birds and start over with a smaller flock or increase space for a new larger flock.

 

[ksbkeys]

Hi! I've got 13 chickens, 5 black stars, 5 red stars, 3 Americanas, all hens. They have a pretty decent-sized coop, along with flock blocks. We let them outside to free-range a few days a week. But ever since they started growing their new feathers when they were young, I've had pecking problems with them. Now they've been laying for a few months, and it's only gotten worse. A couple months ago, I had a red star who got pecked very badly on the vent. It got an infection with white ooze coming out of its vent. I separated it till it healed, spraying no-pick and anticeptic spray. It healed pretty good, and we re-introduced it to the flock. Fast-forward a couple months later, it's got the infection again, (it's been getting pecked too, despite my efforts to spray no-pick) along with my 3 americanas, all who have bare backs at the moment, and my red stars who are starting to lose feathers on their backs from pecking. Even my black stars (I think there are 2 that are the bullys, I've had problems with them pecking their eggs) have been losing some feathers. I've also noticed that they like to eat the fluffy feathers on their underside. It seems a little better when they are outside the coop free ranging, as they have space to spread out. But whenever they get close they start pecking again. I'm really not sure what to do at this point, as despite my best efforts, they keep on pecking each other, and the problems are only going to get worse...

I would try separating the bullies from the flock for a few days. This may put them lower in the pecking order and break the cycle. If it doesn't help, I would put pinless peepers on them. I used those for a short time on 2 individuals who loved to eat feathers and it broke them of the habit. Also, good ideas about more free range time and run space.

Regarding pecking the eggs, I found that putting wooden eggs in the nest box broke them of this habit. (They peck them and get no result save a headache!)

Getting the real eggs out frequently also helped. Making sure they have very good feed matters also. This will make them less hungry and the egg shells stronger...an egg breaking is what often starts chickens into a habit of pecking the eggs...they get a taste of it the first time when an egg accidentally breaks.

 

[AshVau22]

Coop size and run size would be helpful. And diet. Is access to food 24/7? Do you know who is doing the pecking? Picture of coop would also be helpful. Is coop prefab or build yourself? Space and diet are the two biggest causes for pecking. Breed also matters. With proper nutrition and space even known aggressive breeds can mix well in a blended flock. Also picture of the chickens would be helpful. Have you checked for possible lice of mites?

 

[Yardmom]

The behavior you describe would come if the chickens are not getting all the nutrients required. What else are you feeding? Brand, type, and protein percent? Or is it just the flock blocks. I'm not familiar with flock blocks, but I don't think they are intended to be a large percentage of the total feed.

 

[Windy Wings]

Okay, I just checked the feed and measurements of the coop and run (I didn't technically build it, others in my family did.)
The run has an area of 192 square feet, 16x12 sq. ft., the coop has an area of 60 square feet, 6x10 sq. ft.
We have 3 nesting boxes open, there are more we built, but don't have open since we didn't want there to be too many. There are golf balls in there to encourage them to lay in the boxes instead of elsewhere.
Here is the ingredients of the feed we usually get from our local feed store. They have 24 hour access to food, the flock blocks are just there to give them something to peck at other than each other. I don't think they have lice or mites, though really I wouldn't know what to look for.
It's hard to let them free-range every day, as we live in an area where coyotes are around a lot, we lost 5 chickens in the course of one day a few months ago. :/
Here are some pictures of my chickens, you can see their tail feathers are really scraggly from getting pulled. Here are are the coop, nesting boxes, feed, feed ingredients, run, feed box, and chickens.