Stopping Feather Pecking In Hens…
7 Jul
“I have had my 16 hens for a year now, and have not had a problem until this summer. They are pecking each others’ feathers out. My hens are a variety of Rhode Island Reds, Orpingtons, Australorps, Wyandottes, and Leghorns (I wanted color!). I feed a complete crumble, plenty of water and roosting space, they are let out of their pen every evening for a couple hours before sunset.
I was told I needed a rooster to calm the hens down, so a got a real nice brahma rooster, but that didn’t make any difference. They lay nice eggs averaging about 12 to 14 a day. They started out pecking the feathers around their rear ends, then the backs, and some even on the heads, they look terrible. Any ideas what could help? Thanks for any advice!” ~ Pat
Hi Pat,
I’m sorry you’re having problems with feather pecking this summer but I’m glad you wrote because I have a couple of ideas for you.
There are a few possibilities behind this behavior.
Limited space can cause stress and therefore, aggressive behavior.
You didn’t mention how much space is available to your flock while they are confined so I’ll share some parameters for that and you can determine if it might be part of the problem.
A fully confined flock requires 5-8 square feet per bird within the coop.
A flock that is free ranged all day requires at least 4 square feet per bird of coop space.
Because your flock experiences a combination of free range and confinement, they would appreciate at least 5-6 square feet per bird within the coop.
Since your flock is confined for most of its waking hours, I’d suggest using a guideline of 8-12 square feet per bird within the run.
If your set up is within the above guidelines, boredom might be part of the problem.
I don’t know if you have children but I do know that if I want to guarantee bickering amongst my children, all I have to do is help them achieve boredom. (more…)


































