I should probably give you an update on the status of Buff the wayward chicken. Well, let me just say it was a rather difficult 2 months. I thought for sure the Handsome Husband was going to take her out back and pull an Old Yeller on her.
The Girl finally decided if we didn’t get Buff to behave like your typical backyard chicken… then it was curtains for her.
So we spent a good hour or so walking around the perimeter of the fence to find her escape routes. Then we patched them up the best we could.
However, when Buff was contained and could no longer escape…The other chickens continued to peck at her injured head.
It was sad and painful to watch. But I knew I couldn’t keep her in the garage… or separated from the flock any longer. So I decided to give it a week or two and see how it all played out.
After a couple of days of continually being pecked, I noticed she started staying inside the coop during the day instead of going out to “play.” Keeping herself holed up in the coop day was her only defense.
And it worked. She began to heal in seclusion. Her feathers are starting to grow back… and there hasn’t been any signs of pecking for about a 2 weeks now.
She is no longer has the need to hide. These days she prefers to walk around with the other birds… as if nothing ever happened.
Do you have chickens?
What do you make of this?
Chickens In Your Backyard: A Beginner’s Guide
Kari says
Yay for Buff! I do have chickens, but they are only 4 months old. We haven’t had to deal with this sort of stuff yet. Unfortunately it does sometimes come down to “survival of the fitest,” but it’s nice to see they do have some survival instinct. I’m so happy for Buff.
Mavis says
The Girl and I are happy for Buff too. I was never really fond of her before… But now I like her. She actually lets us hold her and she comes running (waddling) when she hears our voice. It’s pretty cute.
Peggy says
Yes we have had chickens in the past and had the same behavior happen… it could be one of two situations. mites… which other chickens will peck at sometimes or just a need to reestablish the pecking order. Usually it is the later…. Did you add any other new chickens? We have had the most issues when new chickens were added as they have to go through the whole process again to determine who was the top chicken, etc. Isolation seemed to help and once the boundaries/order was established the pecking stopped. The last reason and the most tragic is when a chicken is sick….. the other chickens can sense it and have been known to peck a chicken to death (especially if it is something that would be “terminal” anyway…. ) I am so glad that Buff is doing better and order has been reestablished!
Mavis says
I don’t think my chickens have mites. Just like the mom who refuses to believe her kids have lice. Also, no sick chickens. So I am going to go with they needed to re-establish the pecking order. Thanks for your insight. 🙂
Shirley says
Yes Mavis, we have chickens. Maybe you haven’t yet read Sticking Points. The sad fact is that these birds are cannibals.
Quoting from my novel: “On Anna’s forays out to the coop with the tin pitcher she employs for kitchen scraps, sometimes she can’t get it emptied before the chickens catch up to her, crowding and cackling underfoot, and the shower of potato peels, apple cores, coffee grounds, and pasty lumps of oatmeal down onto their heads puts the birds in a complete dither of ecstasy. Even chicken skin and gristle and those drumstick shards she circumspectly culls when fixing
soup, they’ll gobble gobble gobble. Their own species!”
Simply put, chickens have craven appetites. That the neck the flock seeks out to peck is a chum’s seems to be beside the point.
Mavis says
Hmmm. Does this mean if I lay down with cooked oatmeal all over myself they would peck me to death?
Shirley says
Maybe so, Mavis. In Sticking Points, Anna asks this very question. On a freezing cold morning, she’s taking beef rib bones out to the hens, along with her other kitchen scraps. “. . . gingerly sidestepping the chicken yard’s snow-and-ice patches, [she’s] afraid her feet might shoot out from under her and land her on her back. The strewn waste wouldn’t matter, of course. But spilled, herself, mightn’t she, too, get taken for a food sacrifice? Ga-gack, ga-gack, ga-gack, the birds are chortling, scampering to meet her on their scrawny stick legs, ga-gack, ga-gack, ga-gack.”
Of course, in your scenario, you’d be laying down your own life, not actually being a martyr.
Mavis says
Hmmm. Maybe I’ll put your theory to the test this weekend and video tape it. Now the question is… do I slather myself with oatmeal… or scraps?
mamasminutia says
Mom? Mavis? You guys are cracking. me. up.
Qathy says
I’m laughing, too!!
(I just toss my chicken scraps over the fence and never set foot inside the chicken yard! My yard man gathers the eggs). Q.
Angie says
Love your blog. Just found it tonight and am having so much fun reading everything. Hey, you need to get a spray can of blue coat…it’s gentian violet. It’ll stop the picking and will eventually wear off the wound and feathers, giving it all time to heal. Chickens will pick at anything red…so this stops them in their tracks. hth!