Re: Pecking and Feeding

On Thu, 10 Aug 2006 17:56:46 +1000, "Farm1" <please@askifyouwannaknow>
wrote:

"Steve Newport" <steven@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

I live in Sussex UK and have bought 4 point of lay Black Rocks (a
cross with the Long Island Red I believe).

Two problems - possibly related - not sure.

When we bought them we were advised to give them the same feed that
they were brough up on to start with a ground down dry 'layers
mash'.
This they hardly touched so we bough some pellets. (Complete feed
again). This is something friends of ours have done with great
success. However, again, they don't seem to touch it.

We are feeding them other stuff - scraps, broad bean plants, old
cabbages, lettuces, corn, etc which they eat eagerly. But they dont
touch the pellets.

Well they are clearly voting with their feet. Since you appear to
have continued to give them the option of what they want to eat and
they don't like the pellets then they know what they want.

Have you tried to change brand of pellets - some have reported to be
rather high in mineral salts? Or perhaps try a range of other food
liike wheat and mash and other food?

Scraps are good as it gives them a range to browse from so long as
they aren't off.

The main problem (related?) is a pecking problem. One of the
chickens
was very badly pecked with a big bald and bleeding patch. We
seperated
her into a pen of her own for a few days to heal up and bought a
German spray for anti-pecking.

I have now re-introduced her and removed the worst offender into
isolation for five days and sprayed the rest. The remaining two seem
to be picking on the re-ntroduced one again.

Am I tackling this right - is there something else we should be
doing
- is the feeding issue the problem or is that a seperate issue?

There will always be one who is lowest on the rung. From what I've
been able to discern, it relates to issues like the size (of the bird)
stamina of the bird, and colour and size of the wattles (big red
wattles mean the bird is higher in the order) and I've found that
chooks are colour sensitive to a certain degree but that doesn't seem
to apply in your uniform flock.

Any bare flesh will cause picking and how you have handled it so far
is OK (I'd do exactly the same thing) but if the newly introduced
chook that was being picked on still shows bare flesh then she's still
fair game. If the main bully is absent for some time you may juct end
up with her dropping down the list but don't count on it.

One other thing to try might be free ranging and alsot o make sure
that there is plenty of room for the birds to get away from each other
and a range of hiding places for them to go in the pen if you can't
free range.

Many thanks for your replies. The four chickens have a run 9 feet by
six feet and 5 feet high (permanent). So for four chickens I believe
that to be plenty of room.

When it comes to free ranging that should not be a problem but my only
concern there are cats - we have two - one being a hunter for sure.
Are cats a threat?

I will certainly cut out the scraps and see if I can force them to eat
the pellets. I will also build some things to go in the run and allow
them to hide.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Pecking and Feeding
    ... they don't like the pellets then they know what they want. ... it relates to issues like the size (of the bird) ... Any bare flesh will cause picking and how you have handled it so far ... One other thing to try might be free ranging and alsot o make sure ...
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