Chicken Psychology

Oh, another funny example of their behaviour...when my mum and dad's dog comes to visit (they are all safely in their pen), when the dog walks by they all crowd over to where she is to watch her and follow her every move but if she turns to look at them (luckily the dog isn't bothered by them!) they scarper and all shuffle, sometimes noisily, sometimes calmly but always QUICKLY, to the other side of the pen to get away from her. It's like the Chickens are playing 'Chicken'!!
 
Try retirement, cuwiar - no time to do anything but watch your chickens!
Our terrier had got trained to ignore black and brown chickens but was very interested in the two new white hybrids when they came. First time out in the garden together, he ran at one of them and Star stood her ground and pecked him hard on the nose - end of problem! Yesterday he was wanting to come in through the french windows after his lunchtime prowl in the garden, but Star was standing there, looking in at us having lunch, so he had to hang around looking embarrassed until she moved away - really funny.
 
That's great! We're hoping to get a couple of dogs of our own very soon and would ideally like terriers but will have to make sure they can be as respectful of the chickens as your sounds!
 
Marigold said:
Sue said:
Interestingly my new buff sussex speaks the same language as my older buff sussex. They both wonder around 'chortelling' to me. At least that's how I describe it!! Don't know if all buff sussex do this, would be interested to know if anyone else has any, if they make this noise..
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My Buff Sussex is larger than the others, and yes, the sounds she makes are definitely different from the others. I'd need to hear a recording of yours to compare, but Marigold's are much deeper (larger chest amplifying the sound?) different somehow in intonation and expression. She is the noisiest hen (and keeps on repeating herself, maybe also a sign she's not very bright, or just that she's bottom of the pecking order and the others don't listen to her?) At present the poor girl looks more like a Transylvanian Naked Neck, has moulted nearly all her lovely black feathers round her 'scarf.' (Is there a technical term for these feathers?)
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Interestingly both my buff sussex are way above the others when it comes to brains! The legbar is close behind, but since she moved in with 'Potty Dottie', the older buff sussex has taken over! Don't think I can post a recording on here Marigold, would be interesting though!
 
cuwiar said:
That's great! We're hoping to get a couple of dogs of our own very soon and would ideally like terriers but will have to make sure they can be as respectful of the chickens as your sounds!
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I've git a staffordshire bull terrier, who would quite cheerfully kill small birds she flushed on walks ( I'm not proud of this, its happened with the in laws...despite me asking them to be more careful) but is very hen friendly. Gradual Intros, and now she's fine, a few pecks on nose helped.
 
I'd love a staffie cross...we'll be getting rescue dogs so will prob have some % of staffie in by default!!

Another chicken behaviour trait I've noticed...

Preening

Our Top Hen doesn't preen very much but the other two do it a lot, they get together to have a preening session, often in the afternoon and always early evening. When one of them is preening though the more dominant hen (including the one who doesn't preen)will come over (almost sneakily) and have a peck at the area that is being preened! Are they hoping there may be the odd loose feather to grab? Sometimes when one does find a feather they run away with it like it's a prize!

The top hen who doesn't preen very much (she does fluff up and shake quite regularly) is the one who is laying and she's far more interested in finding food. Could it be that during the short days foraging becomes priority over preening in order for her to lay? She is still laying an egg every single day and they are really good, strong eggs.

I've been working on learning Chickenish over the weekend but it's still all foreign to me! ;)
 
She won't preen because she isn't then guarding her flock. The top hen replaces a cockerel in this case. Some hens are better than others at the job and some just don't want the responsibility. When Princess, our top Black Orpington hen died, none of the others rose to the front. Harriet, the biggest Blue, is still suffering from a lack of guidance and has no inclination to assume the role of top hen. In the wild the top hen is replaced at death by one of her hatchlings -bit like a royal line. All the others accept it. Only the top hen can preen the cockerel, so now we have to do Bottom's neck feathers until someone in that coop steps forward. It will have to be a new hen I think so we are looking out for a really big black orpington.
 
chrismahon said:
Only the top hen can preen the cockerel, so now we have to do Bottom's neck feathers until someone in that coop steps forward. It will have to be a new hen I think so we are looking out for a really big black orpington.
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Is there any guarantee that the new one will become top hen? - or indeed that Bottom will like her best and realise what she's there for? I've noticed that usually the younger, newer ones get shunted in at the bottom of the pecking order, especially as they're generally not fully mature when they join at about 18-20weeks. Would you go for an older hen, Chris?
 
Has to be an older hen Marigold. Need to be sure she is 10lbs like Princess was. Then the existing hens will be brought to her. They will go into a temporary coop and be introduced back to the main coop one at a time to meet the new hen -to get beaten up in turn effectively.

We miss her (Miss Piggy) and Ginger, the Jubilee Orpington, every time we go into the Orchard. Its just not the same without them.
 
chrismahon said:
We miss her (Miss Piggy) and Ginger, the Jubilee Orpington, every time we go into the Orchard. Its just not the same without them.
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:( That's sad, I hope you and Bottom find a suitable hen to step up to the challenge! 0:-)

chrismahon said:
She won't preen because she isn't then guarding her flock. The top hen replaces a cockerel in this case...Only the top hen can preen the cockerel, so now we have to do Bottom's neck feathers until someone in that coop steps forward.
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This is really interesting, does that mean we should be preening Ebrill? Not sure she'd be up for that!!?? :-)19 Will she suffer from not preening herself?

After watching them this afternoon, when Mai (the smallest, ditziest but not necessarily lowliest) was preening, which she likes to do a lot of, Mehefin (wannabe contender to the throne but biggest scaredy chicken and usually Mai's pal) actually stole a feather from near Mai's preening gland. I even think it was a strong, full quilled/blood one and Mai really didn't like it but Mehefin wanted to do it again. She only ever does this when Mai is preening and when she lifts her tail...could this develop into full blown feather pecking???
 
Sorry Cuwiar, but yes it could develop. She is taking feathers when Mai is off guard, so you need to keep an eye on her, as you are doing anyway.

The hens are more agile when preening their necks. I have seen them let their trusted friends take sheaths off the highest feathers. But usually they just scratch them off. Cockerels have a habit of damaging their comb and wattles if they start that and can't really reach properly anyway -hence the top hen's job. There is the danger of damaging themselves with their spurs as well.

I preened Bottom last night while he was asleep on my lap, for a whole hour! Couldn't have been properly asleep though because he usually snores.
 
Aww! That's really cute - makes me want a 'cuddly' chicken!

Is there anything I can do to nip this feather stealing in the bud? I've read lots of advice on the forum about trying to stop it once it is quite far progressed but I don't want to start putting stuff that tastes bad on Mai's preening area as that would also taste bad to her!

When I saw Mehefin do it yesterday I tried a stern 'no' and pointed a finger at her and chased her off before she got a chance to do it again. As she is scared of being caught I know this will be a big deterrent but I can't be there all the time when she goes to do it! Yesterday they were free ranging when I saw the incident so Mehefin couldn't have been bored...it seems so malicious!
 
It's triggered by boredom as chicks usually. Perhaps it is a nutritional deficiency in their diet. They need a lot of protein to feather up and perhaps that comes from someone else's feathers, don't know. If the hens in one coop are all moulting and none are laying we switch the feed to rearer/grower pellets as it is higher in protein. Only a few % but I believe it makes a big difference. You could feed maggots -pure protein and they will love them. Too many gives them the runs so tablespoon full each per day max.

I agree about anti-pecking spray. The victim suffers more than the assailant.

In the post 'feather munching 'something'' they are trying beak bits as a last resort. But you are not in that position yet. Examine the diet and perhaps consider vitamin suppliments for a while. Hopefully that will stop it before it gets worse.
 
Oh wonderful...a new thing to worry about! Sigh :roll:

The new feather thief (you need your teeth in to say that one!) is about 18-19 weeks as is the 'victim' - they are both on layers pellets as the third hen is laying, they have been free ranging quite a bit lately so I guess she could not be getting the full protein she needs. She is more of a 'green' forager than a 'live prey' forager. Will try some maggots for a protein hit, mealworms in the meantime!

Any further suggestions on which vitamin supplements would be good to try?
 
There are a few chicken vitamin booster tonics available. We bought one based on seaweed then disovered it was sunlight sensitive and the contents of the drinker had to be thrown away every day and refilled the next. Suggest you find something less labour intensive and wasteful. Good luck with them Cuwiar.
 
I'm afraid it's not dietary, just something they do then get a taste for it. So you can load them up with all kinds of feeds/additives and it will still go on. The spray does have the problem that it does make the feathers into a bit of a mess but once it's dry they can preen to a certain extent. It's a balance between this and having severe damage caused by the feather pecking. Bits do work but most people are loathe to try them.

Chris - I'd check the protein levels in your grower feed as usually it's lower than in layers. This is so that growers are not forced on to quickly between when they come off Chick and onto Layers shortly before they start to lay. I don't buy Growers, just water down the protein with mixed corn which is around 10% prot.
My Marriages feeds are: Layers 17% prot. Growers 15% prot and Chick 18% prot.
 
Thanks Chuck. I will check this today as I may be way off with my treatment of our birds in moult. I've been giving them rearer believing it had more protein to help with feathering up. I know it has far less Calcium, which is another issue.

Just checked. Both layers and growers feed -Allan and Page Smallholder range- has 16% protein. So no advantage in switching to rearers other than the Calcium issue. Will read the labeling more carefully in future Chuck and won't bother switching the adult birds from layers, which is cheaper anyway.

Perhaps we'd be better with Marriages layers. We only use Allen and Page because the pellets are smaller and an easier transition from chick crumb. We had problems with one and had to crush the feed for a few weeks.
 
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