The reason for pecking in chickens
Poultry, especially chickens and chickens, always cause many problems for farmers in chicken coops. This problem begins to become relevant when the chicks are still very young, 3-4 weeks old and the chicks are already pecking each other until they bleed. This cannot be called a disease, but it is also normal. The question arises: "Why do the chickens peck each other?" Usually, at a young age, birds become very active and excited, and this is what causes such a surge of emotions: chickens peck each other, and sometimes even to blood.
Why do chickens peck at each other?
There can be a lot of reasons for aggressive behavior in the hen house of young animals. Do not think that birds play like this or fight for food. Most often, underneath all this lies a number of factors that affect precisely this behavior of young animals.
Possible causes of chick pecking
If yesterday in the chicken coop everything was normal and did not bode well, and the next morning there is a very unpleasant picture of the birds pecking each other until they bleed, this is the first bell. It is not fully known why the young people suffer from cannibalism among their own, but this can lead to disastrous consequences: you will simply have to destroy the entire young generation.
To understand the problem of why chickens peck each other, you need to find out the reason or several reasons why the birds behave this way. Here is some of them:
- Improper diet, lack of necessary vitamins and minerals.
- Poor lighting.
- Crowded birds.
- The conditions of detention do not match.
It is worth taking a closer look at each of the reasons. Improper diet, groundbait, mixtures - some of this may not be suitable for babies, or they do not have enough calcium, various minerals, vitamins.
Eating a balanced diet can help prevent feather and body pecking. The problem may be with complementary foods and grains. If the latter are large, then eating them, the birds do not feel satiety for a long time and begin to peck each other, engaging in cannibalism. This is a plant feed problem, not a loose mix.
What can be done in case of pecking
What to do? It is enough just to mix vegetable food with various additives, mixtures, vitamins, minerals, microelements. The main thing is not to forget about calcium. In most cases, it is because of the lack of calcium that babies begin to peck at each other until they bleed.
The second, but no less important reason is the crowding of birds. Getting started all the same chicken coop, it is worth remembering and not forgetting that an insufficient amount of space for young animals can cause aggression and pecking among birds. At first glance, the problem does not seem so global, but a direct struggle for a place in the sun begins.
So, if you have little experience in breeding birds or you just started a similar farm, to prevent the problem of why small chickens peck each other, it is enough not to have a large number of chickens in a small room. It is easy enough to remember and in case of pecking start to expand the space in the hen house, otherwise the aggression can develop into the whole brood, and you will simply lose it.
Wrong lighting and inadequate conditions for keeping chickens - these two problems usually stand side by side. The nervous system of birds is very sensitive, and therefore they will react stressfully to any change in lighting. Aggression in birds can be triggered by too bright light, this will lead to a stressful situation and pecking will begin. On the contrary, broilers should receive extremely cold shades of light, they do not bite each other from this, they become calmer.
How to prevent biting in chickens
Containment procedures also play an important role in winged development. This should come first before introducing birds. Oddly enough, chickens also need a properly humidified room.
Without this, chickens will suffer from dry skin, lack of moisture in the body, and dehydration. And all this will lead to a thickening of the shell, the release of fatty eggs, as a result - eggs without shell in a soft film. Since all of the listed phenomena are obvious irritants, aggression towards other chickens begins to appear, pecking feathers and tissues to the blood.
If the birds are kept in aviaries and feeder small for feeding all at once, you should think about increasing it. This is a simple hierarchy: the strongest will eat first, and the weak will eat what remains.
Improper diet as a cause
Malnutrition is worth discussing separately. The problem may arise not only on the basis of the first attempt to breed birds, but also depend on the manufacturer of this very feed. There are many videos that talk about seeds, grains and Good Diet.
It is especially important to remember that food is the main cause of pecking.
The culprit may not only be the owner of the chicken coop. The lack of microelements important for the growing organism of young animals leads to the fact that chickens peck at their relatives.
Just to replace the necessary vitamin in their food, they begin to eat what they come across - their fellows. With a lack of nutrients, several main reasons can be distinguished:
- A very important component in growth, calcium, can stimulate the aggressive behavior of birds. It is impossible to assert to the end that this particular element is always lacking. However, it is precisely because of the lack of calcium that chickens peck until they bloody, pluck out feathers and peck at relatives.
- At the age of one month, the chicks lose down and feathers. Lack of protein in chickens can affect the fact that they simply begin to pick up this fluff or pluck it from others.
- It is highly discouraged to use large grains in feed. As mentioned above, it is better to use friable mixtures when complementary foods, especially to monitor the salt in the diet. Due to the lack of salts in the body of chickens, their condition worsens and the risk of aggression towards fellows increases.
It is necessary to monitor the correct diet for chickens. From 6-7 days, small birds can eat chalk, shellfish, dairy products added to the feed: yogurt, cottage cheese. From 10-12 days add protein, it is contained in ground fish bones. Also, we must not forget about salt: it is enough to add 2-3% salt to the usual diet of chickens.
It is possible and necessary to release chickens from open-air cages or chicken coops by scattering cabbage leaves and carrots on the ground. This will prevent crowding and early signs of hierarchy among the chicks in a small room. By following these simple feeding rules, it is easy to avoid pecking.
Problem solving options
Having determined for yourself the reason for such aggressive behavior, biting each other with small chickens, you should think about solving these problems. What to do in this case? Here are some options:
- Identifying the causes of the problem is half the battle. There is very little left to do. If the problem is in improper feeding of chickens, you need to add to the diet what they eat: chalk, ground fish bones, salt, vitamins, cabbage leaves, carrots, trace elements in preparations, green young grass.
- When chickens are crowded, broilers beat their tails, peck the cloaca, pluck and peck each other. It is enough to carry out the prevention of "relocation" of fighters from place to place and to expand the place in the aviary or chicken coop. Chicks should have free access to feeders, and it is better to release them for a walk in the fresh air. So the problem of crowding may not appear.
- Replace lighting if this is the case. Either make the lighting not very bright so as not to provoke aggression, or replace it with calm shades. Chicks will not see each other well, will not react to stimuli in order to avoid a stressful situation. Reddish light can also be a way out of this situation. The main thing is that other chickens do not see drops of blood and open wounds on brothers do not bring their beak closer to them. Due to the red color, they will not be able to distinguish and see these wounds.
If there are fighters, then you need to track them and transplant them into another aviary or simply separately from the main brood, otherwise weaker individuals will simply be pecked. And treating an infected bird for infection and a virus, which quickly and easily manifests itself, will be much longer and more problematic.
Pecking prevention
There are many videos on the Internet about the prevention of pecking, on the topic "Why do young chickens peck each other?", They explain the reasons and what to do. De-picking is in the first place of all such procedures. This is a completely painless process: trim the beak, but not completely, but only the tip.
You can cut the beak correctly using a laser or a hot blade. In the early stages of a chick's life, the method is not very cheap, and therefore not as popular. When cutting the beak, problems in the hen house are fundamentally prevented, such as pecking feathers, tearing tissue, subsequently contamination with infections and expensive treatment, and, possibly, the death of the entire livestock.
The main task of novice farmers is to prevent all these causes and identify them at an early stage. Such problems are familiar not only to beginners, but also to large poultry farms.
If you cannot understand what the problem is, you can simply call a veterinarian who will tell and suggest the correct diet, the size of the enclosure, lighting and vitamins, perhaps trim the beak or advise the best options so that the young do not cling to each other with their tail and do not provoke pecking.