Bumpa Bit sizes

[mjg]

Hi,
We've been rescuing hens through the bhwt for a number of years now, and this last lot of 11 hens are little horror bags! We got them in December, and after becoming beautiful full feathered girls, a few of them mid April, suddenly turned into feather eaters. Meaning most of then now look moth eaten, one of them is currently residing in another area and on medication, because we found her covered in blood one evening as some had been happily pecking at her vent after pulling out her feathers. Long story short-ish.... we've looked at (and had others double check) diet, surroundings, enrichment, but nothing is an issue with these. We've come across bumpa bits as an option which we're happy to try, but it turns out there are 3 sizes available and I wanted to see if anyone had experience using these on our sort of size birds (isa browns), and what size bit you used. Unless I'm looking in the wrong places, I can't find a definitive answer anywhere!
Thanks
Jennie

 

[mjg]

Nevermind. I'll figure it out.

 

[Marigold]

Hi mgj, sorry nobody replied. I’d guess try the middle size, on the basis that the small is for bantams and the large is for bigger breeds? But I’ve no experience of bumpa bits myself.

 

[mjg]

Thank you, that makes sense. I never knew for sure that the smaller ones were for bantams as that is the only size some places sell so I just wanted to be sure. I appreciate it.

 

[Marigold]

Please let us know how you get on.
If you put bumpa bits into the Search box above, there are some archive posts you might find helpful, including this link to a YouTube video about how to fit http://poultrykeeperforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=10329&start=40

 

[bigyetiman]

Not had to use any so couldn't advise you on the bumpa bits.
Sorry to hear that you have acquired the hens from hell, do let us know how it all works out

 

[mjg]

The only place with 30mm bits available from stock was in Ireland, the guy was really helpful and I'm just waiting for the delivery now. Just not looking forward to fitting them when they arrive!

 

[Hen-Gen]

Just a question. Can you tell us what they are eating?

 

[mjg]

They're on layers pellets, with foraging toys for leafy greens, mixed corn, meal worms and fruit (such as bananas, grapes, apples) as treats. They'll periodically (mostly in the cold weather) get bowls of warm egg porridge.

 

[Hen-Gen]

Very high quality diet. I asked the question because nutritional deficiencies can lead to outbreaks of cannibalism. This clearly does not apply in your case.
Most chickens will peck unmercifully at the sight of blood. They will also peck at the quills of discarded feathers. Are you absolutely sure that there is more than one bird actually pulling feathers out of its companions? Just this year for some reason I have a cockerel who decided to feather peck just one of his hens. The other hens were untouched. Some mornings quite a lot of feathers were on the shed floor and the hen concerned started getting bald patches. I have never encountered this kind of behaviour from a cockerel before.
If you do discover that only one hen is responsible then it is an example of atypical behaviour and euthenasia would be the best response. Where two or more birds feather peck then it may be due to territorial behaviour during the long days of summer. Hens which do not come from an established group can be very aggressive to strangers.
Another suggestion I can make is that the stressful and unnatural living conditions of your birds before you acquired them has led to a distortion of normal behaviour. Your birds sound like they have wonderful living conditions.
Have you checked that they are free of external parasites? Though hens can be treated manually this is rather stressful for them and I used to prefer to add louse powder to a box of dry soil so they can dust bath and self medicate. Now I use a treatment which is not licensed for use on poultry so I cannot advocate it’s use on this forum.
So good luck and I hope the matter is resolved. It is a shame when folk such as yourself rescue hens from such a horrendous environment and then encounter problems.

 

[mjg]

Thanks for your response, and sorry to hear about the problem you're having also! I'd say that there are about 6 of the hens that do it to greater or lesser degrees. I've seen them stand in a little 'conga line' pecking at the bird in front :? At one point I saw a couple of them wandering between their flock mates, pulling out a feather and eating the whole thing. Their beds get dusted with diatomaceous earth, as are the hens themselves, and the run inside and out gets treated also. We've never had a problem with anything other than the little feather lice, but as they live outside amongst the wild birds, we can't eradicate those completely. We just use the DE powder to keep them under control. It all started suddenly in April! It's really weird!

 

[Tweetypie]

Hi MJG

I was just googling "bumpa bits" through curiosity, I had no idea about them. Saw that they sell them on the Omelet website.
Sorry that I don't have any advice, my 4 girls seem to get along OK, but it must be terrible having to deal with the bullying. I guess you will have already tried the anti peck spray? Not sure if it works, but worth a try if you haven't.

 

[mjg]

The ones on the Omlet website are 25mm only, and I read some reviews from people saying the were too small for their hens. There is another company in the UK who only sells the 35mm ones, that some of these people swapped to, but I worried they'd be too big. I couldn't find anything definitive that explains the breed recommendations. Yes, we've tried anti-pek but they just shake their head at the taste and carry on 06

 

[mjg]

The bits arrived yesterday, and this morning we fitted them on 3 of the worst offending hens to see how they got on. It was fairly easy to fit them, we followed the suggestions of warming the plastic first and only snapped one 17 . I have to say, we felt awful and cruel at first. The hens looked so depressed! They were slowly moving or stumbling about, one of them tried to bury herself in the pampas grass, and another one just kept crouching down. We said we would give it till Monday latest, and if they were still struggling, the bits would be removed and we'd just have to look at other options, despite this being the last option we could think of! However, we have just checked on them, and they're running around like nothing has happened! :lol: It had taken a big weight off our minds knowing that they've chilled out so much!

 

[Marigold]

Great news. I don’t think you’ll ever cure them and if and when the bits fall off or you remove them they will probably revert, but it sounds as if you’ve found a solution for now. Shall be interested to hear how you get on.

 

[bigyetiman]

Glad they arrived and you fitted them ok 17.
Good to know the hens are running around happily now with them on, after doing the "lets make the humans feel really guilty bit". But it must be really odd for them at first, at least you can rest easy for the time being. Look forward to hearing how it all progresses.

 

[Tweetypie]

That's good news. Have you seen the offenders trying to peck the other hens with the bits on? I hope it's a long term success and they also "forget" to peck the others when the bits fall off

 

[mjg]

I've not seen them do the obsessive following around and pecking at bums, like they were doing. The only extra thing we want to do is to keep an eye on their weight. They seem to be eating, but we want to make sure that they're actually able to pick the food up rather than just desperately pecking in the trough. We're keeping the troughs full, and we also bought 2 new heavy duty drinkers that have wider and deeper channels. So far so good though!

 

[Icemaiden]

I've had to resort to bumpa bits after a couple of hens started feather pecking a couple of weeks ago. Tufty, our elderly cream legbar, was being victimised & to then make her more miserable by spraying her with anti peck spray really seemed wrong. So, having found her with a large sore, red patch last Wednesday, I bought some 35mm bumpa bits (the only ones I could get delivered within a week) and a pair of circlip pliers with 90° tips.
With hindsight, 30mm bumpa bits would probably be better for ex-batts.

My husband held the offenders (one at a time) in a towel while I fitted the bumpa bits, making sure that they fitted into the nostrils without holding the nostril flaps closed. Both hens gave a real "woe is me, aren't I hard done by" impression for half an hour before going to bed, but within 36 hours they'd mastered eating & drinking in them. Tufty looks relieved & the culprits have got used to their new "beak jewellery " much in the way that I got used to my first ever bra.

 

[Marigold]

I’m left pondering the implications of your last sentence, Icemaiden, but I’m glad Tufty’s enjoying the Christmas present you gave to the offenders!