Why do chickens pluck other chickens?

Answer 1

Chickens (like almost all animals) have a 'pecking order.' This is established so that all the chickens know their rank. if you put another chicken in a pen with an already established pecking order, they have to start all over again.

The lowest on the pecking order can and will most likely be pecked by all the other chickens. The highest on the pecking order, won't be pecked by most chickens. Although, sometimes the lower ranked chickens will peck her. Highest ranked gets to eat first, drink first, and basically do whatever she wants to do. Lowest on the rank has to A) wait their turn or B) stand up for themselves resulting in either getting ranked up on the pecking order, or just getting pecked even more.

Now, a few pecking here and there just shows dominance. But if your chickens are constantly pecking each other it is most likely because they don't have enough space and/or their pen is poorly ventilated. If you were stuck in a small room with bad ventilation, you might become a little testy as well.

The best way to solve these problems are A) Make their pen bigger, simple. B) You should make sure that they can get out on the ground and in fresh air. You can either have a pen with a wired roof on it so they can't fly out, or clip their primary wings. Clipping their wings is painless, unless you cut too close. You can usually tell where the blood in the wings starts and stops.

Chickens will peck one another if there is a deficiency in their diet. If a flock is only fed cracked corn (which is only 9.8% protein), it will resort to pecking or feather plucking to get the required nutrients it needs. It takes large amount of protein to grow feathers and lay eggs.

Answer 2

Because you are not caring for them properly. Cannibalism has a few causes, all of which are ultimately the owners fault.

• Lack of enrichment. There is nothing for the birds to scratch or peck at. Give them mulch (NO CEDAR), hay, dirt, and dead leaves to scratch in. Give them flock blocks, hanging cabbage, stationary treats to peck at.

• Over crowded conditions. If the birds don't have 3+ square foot per bird inside the coop and 5+ square foot oustside(in the run) per bird, they release their frustrations through cannibalism.

• Lack of food and water. This will make birds aggressive. Put out more waterers and feeders, give them more food.

• Lack of protein in diet. Feed them some scrambled eggs and yogurt every day.

• Improper flock integration. If you recently integrated birds, you probably done it improperly. Always supervise flock integration for 2-4 hours after the birds are put in. Put the birds next to eachother, without having access. Integrate while free-ranging to let the birds have somewhere to run. DO NOT integrate birds that aren't the same size.

• Stress. This is caused by all the above mentioned things, along with poor care/upkeep/living conditions.

Answer 3

It is either a lack of protein in the diet, or a sign of agression.

They need to be removed from the flock IMMEDIATELY, before cannibalism can take place. This habit is extremely hard to reverse.

Get rid of the roosters if addition of protein in the diet doesn't help - because they will cause cannibalism and will kill the hens.

Answer 4

Because they can.

Who can peck whom with impunity is controlled by something called (seriously) the "pecking order". The boss chicken can peck any other chicken. The next chicken down can peck any chicken except the boss chicken. and so on until you get to the last chicken, who gets pecked by everybody and can't peck anybody.

Any given chicken CAN decide "enough is enough" and start a fight over being pecked. However, fighting is "expensive": it takes energy to fight, and recovering from injuries also takes time and energy. So it's beneficial to the group as a whole to minimize fights, and chickens that peck other chickens are essentially just saying "I am the boss of you" and the other chicken says "You are the boss of me" by not fighting back.

Answer 5

This behavior is usually a sign of not enough room in the roost area. If possible, provide more roosting area and the feather pulling will likely cease.