Polish top hat being pecked

[Missy3b]

I have 24 chicks that are about 5 weeks old. One of my White Crested Poland's top hat is being pecked at and she now has a bald spot in the middle of her beautiful developing head crest. I am guessing she is on the lower end of the pecking order. Any suggestions for protecting her crown from pecking? I actually put her head feathers up into a rubber band to help the middle ones grow back in.

 

[tazcat70]

That chicky tail sounds too cute. Just by making it so they don't see the blood will probably help. But there is Blue Kote.

 

[ThePolishPrincess]

She should be taken away. The longer you keep her with the others, the less of a chance you have of preventing her healing. Keep her away until the feathers grow in. The chances of her escaping the others once you put her back are slim, but unless you'd like to cull your peckers, or her, this is what you can do for now. When her feathers grow back, keep her caged up next to them for a few weeks until they can re-establish the pecking order calmly. Won't be an easy next few weeks for you or your bird, but it wouldn't be wise at all for you to leave her there with them. Non-cresteds are like vultures with Polish. Keep an eye on the others too-if they need a replacement chew toy-they'll know where to look!

 

[Didelphus]

I had a picking problem with my chicks for a little bit. We have Polishes mixed with some Leghorns and a few others. They are 7 weeks, now. For awhile I separated the polish and put them with some of the more docile chicks (mottled houdans). A week ago I moved them outside to the tractor and put them all back together. One polish still had a scab and I put Desitin on it because that is all I had on hand. It worked like a charm to both camoflague and discourage pecking!! I reapplied the Desitin for a couple of days when it would wear off. Now they are all getting along fine. I think it helped that they suddenly had a lot more space and grass to peck.
Laura

 

[gabbyscritters]

We have also had problems with crested in with noncrested. We had one crested a few years ago that worked out fine but my daughter got several last spring and had problems. One of the two pullets got picked on real bad. We seperated them for the crest to go back and tried it again but she got picked on right away. We eded up finding the 2 hpullets a new home. They were favorites of my daughtes but she knew it was best for them and they went to a really good home. Once it starts it will not be pretty!

 

[Megs]

i started to grow out my polish pair (at 4 months, until about 7 months) in a communal grow out pen (all bantams but several kinds) they were OK until the others were a bit older and then the polish were picked on endlessly (rooster got it worse with many missing feathers in his crest, luckily very little blood) i upped the build date on their private quarters to ASAP and moved them, they have thrived in a breed specific pen ever since and are now coming up to one year old with magnificent crests. sorry to say i dont have advice to offer, in my experiance i think they require very docile pen mates or only other polish (or perhaps other crested breeds as well, i dont have any so i cant say).

 

[seminolewind]

You have to be careful with Polish getting their head pecked, they are prone to brain injury from blows to the head.

You can try concocting something with duct tape.